Conflict in Central Nigeria

Women mourning over attacks - Photo: Plateau State Directorate of Press and Public Affairs

STM Update 6.16.25

Attacks against predominantly Christian villages have continued in Central Nigeria. In Benue State, just south of Plateau State, the attacks have been escalating. An STM Update seemed warranted due to the scale of the attack there this weekend, and also given that it has received international coverage in the news media (1 below) which is repeating a false narrative about the situation.

An AMEN missionary named Isaac lives and works very close to Yelewata village where these most recent attacks occurred and he went into the village to give a report to the AMEN leadership of what he saw and heard. He is personally known to STM as he had escorted a group of widows from the Tiv tribe to the B4G Widow's Conference we attended in 2023 (2 below). It was there that we met him and saw that he was trustworthy. He reported that the current body count in Yelewat is 170, with more to be added soon. Many were completely burned, and in those cases it takes some time to determine the number of bodies actually present.

Most of the media, both international and Nigerian, continues to report this as a conflict between herders and famers over scarce land, with the unstated implication that both sides are equally at fault. The problem with this narrative is that researchers have shown that the number of violent attacks on Fulani herders by Christian farmers has been low (3 below), while the frequency, scale and sophistication of attacks by Fulani herders on Christian farmers is at crisis levels (4 below) that many are now calling genocide. In this weekend's night attack, the Fulani militants started by overwhelming a police post in the area, killing 2 policemen. While the police were neutralized by the superior arms and number of the militants, a second group attacked the defenseless Yelewata village. Most of the victims were shot or hacked to death with machetes. Dozens of children were locked in homes which were then burned waiting for the flaming roofs to eventually collapse on top of them (5 below). This was clearly a coordinated attack of terrorists, intended to instill fear and horror, not a simple reprisal for someone stealing a Fulani cow that was grazing on their crops. The fact that all of the militants appear to be Muslim, often shouting "Allah is great" during their attacks, and the fact that their victims are nearly all unarmed, subsistence farming Christians, are rarely reported. Nor is it reported that these tribes that are being attacked have lived and farmed these lands for many generations, some going back to precolonial times, and they have legal titles to the land. The militants, on the other hand seem to have recently come from other places and are rarely brought to justice. No one in this most recent attack has yet been apprehended and hundreds of farmers have fled their farms to already crowded IDP camps for safety.

Your prayers for peace are needed. Ultimately the battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the enemy of our souls. Prayer is our ultimate weapon and you know how to pray. We are grateful that AMEN and B4G staff are safe for now, and that the main AMEN base which hosts several hundred people daily has been provisioned by the Nigerian government with a small, permanent, detachment of soldiers.

1. ABC News report (USA)

2. Benue widows describe the murders of their husbands - Isaac translates (2023)

3. Violence in Nigeria: Discussion of the Statistical Evidence for the Disproportionate Targeting of Christians (Center for the Study of Law and Religion - Emory University)

4. Mounting Death Toll and Looming Humanitarian Crisis (Amnesty International Nigeria)

5. Video evidence of terrorism against children in Yelewata village: Please be advised - this video forwarded to us by Naomi is graphic and very disturbing - you will not see it on any news service - but if you are someone who must see to believe the extent of the evil, here it is. The video is from Yelewata village immediately after the attacks of this weekend. It gives stark visual documentation of the many children burned to death while forcibly trapped in their homes. As stated above - this is what terrorist do. This is not the result of a simple land use disagreement. It is not a disagreement between two sides who are equally at fault. These Christian children were innocent under any system of justice, yet they were brutally murdered. This is evil and it truly originates in hell. The real enemy is unmasked and he is very ugly.

STM Update 4.19.25

In the last 2 weeks, over 100 people - mostly Christian farmers - have been killed by Islamic Fulani militants in Plateau State. These attacks have occurred in Bassa and Bokkos LGA's (see map below) which are areas not far from the main AMEN Missionary Training base at Gana Ropp. During the same time period over 50 people were killed in Benue State, just south of Plateau. These attacks seem timed to occur after crops have begun to grow and also to coincide with the Holy Week/Easter season. The crops serve as food for the Fulani cattle after the farmers have been killed or driven off their land.

These attacks have created a political uproar in Nigeria with many calling for an end to the violence, from the Nigerian President to the Christian villagers and even the Fulani tribal leaders. It remains to be seen which solutions will be implemented if any. There is a very real possibility that violence will escalate before any solutions are found. In fact many are calling for armed vigilante groups to be the solution, which would certainly lead to more bloodshed. Many people believe that political powers within Nigeria or those based in foreign countries are fueling the violence for their own purposes. Others point to the deep economic crisis in Nigeria, climate change throughout the Sahel, and long-standing tribal animosities. But whatever the cause(s) it seems that Nigeria is nearing a national security crisis point. Our Nigerian brothers and sisters ask for our prayers more than anything else, but they also hope that the world is now seeing their struggle which has too long been ignored. In Plateau State alone, over 1300 people have been killed since December 2023.

Amnesty International Report on the Bassa Attacks

Channels TV (Nigeria) - Bassa Community Mass Funeral video. (caution - some graphic images)

Christian Broadcasting Network Report (USA) on the regional crisis that is affecting the Nigerian situation. (2:14-11:00)

Plateau State LGAs map: 2025©Sharing the Mission

STM Update 4.14.25

Attacks have spread from the Bokkos area north to Bassa LGA (county - see map).  Again, over 50 people were killed. The scale and frequency of these attacks has captured the attention of the President of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu, who announced "Enough is enough." It remains to be seen whether the President of Nigeria, or the Governor of Plateau State, Caleb Mutfwang - a Christian, will be able to control the situation and restore peace to the Plateau.

We have also received word that the women's training event at Gana Ropp was both safe and successful, although some of the 90 women attending were from areas that were under attack and did not know if they would have homes to return to.

Please keep praying for the safety of Christians, the peace of Plateau State, and of Nigeria in general, as these are tumultuous times.

For independent news reports see:

Channels News (Nigeria)

Christian Daily International (US)

STM Update 4.10.25

This is a first hand account of the recent Bokkos area attacks from a high school girl named Uren:

My name is Uren. I am from Hurti, a small village in Daffo, Bokkos LGA of Plateau State. I am in SS3 at GSS Manguna.

In Bokkos LGA, we farm potatoes, maize and whatever the land agrees to yield, because that is what we know best. That is how we survive. Occasionally, we trade. But it is the land that feeds us.

At the weekend, my people, the Ron and Kulere, held our yearly festival. People came from all over. Not because everything was all right, but because the festival gave us strength. It reminded us that we are still here. We are still alive. And even though we keep losing people, we cannot stop living. Besides, we know everyone will die someday.

On Wednesday morning, before the sun rose, my mother reminded me that we needed to head to the farm early, before the heat turned cruel and our energy, too drained to respond. There is always work to be done on the farm; come rain, come sun, dry or green. Life in our village follows that rhythm.

For some reason, that morning, I woke with the weight of Oswald's Nightfall in Soweto pressing heavily on my chest. Mr. Mallo, our literature teacher, had painted it vividly when he taught the poem. “Feel it. Poetry is meant to be felt,” he had said.

I felt it, all right. The fear. The dusk falling like judgment. I felt it because it was no longer just poetry. It was no longer Soweto. It was Plateau. It was Bokkos. It was home. It was real.

My classmate, Ukambong, told me that in their village, Josho and even in Ganda and Manguna, they no longer slept at night. Their fathers and brothers had taken to spending the night on the trees, like hunted animals. They went up there not to fight. Who brings a bow and arrow to face fire-spitting metals? They went there to act as sirens. Human alarms.

When the raiders came, they were the voices screaming, Run!

And the raiders? They always came.

In our history class, Mrs. Mafwil told us that once upon a time, invaders galloped in on horses, with spears, bows and arrows slicing through the air with ancient rage. Today, they arrive on iron horses humming death and machines that spit fire and thunder.

They come knowing they will not be stopped.

They come knowing their mission has been carved into the silence of complicity.

They come. They slaughter. They leave. And they come again, at will. Their faces are not hidden. Their names are whispered. Their language betrays who they are. Yet, they remain unknown. Somehow, always unknown.

That Wednesday, they walked into our morning as we worked on the farm—my mother, father, five siblings and I, clearing the land so we could plant soon. We were engrossed in tearing up weeds with calloused hands, brushing the earth off our feet, when we heard the buzzing of motorbikes, many of them, and the cracking of gunfire all around.

It was loud and close. A rhythm now too familiar. First at night, now in broad daylight. A group of attackers was moving in on our village and the nearby ones too.

We froze, not knowing what to do. Smoke began rising, big, black clouds. Houses were burning. We saw people running, screaming. It was not near yet, but the land is flat; we could see everything. We were certain the attackers had seen us. One cannot hide easily out there. My mother’s face twisted. “Home,” she whispered and broke into a run. But my father ran after her and held her back. She began to shiver. “My children, my children,” she said, as tears welled up in her eyes.

My two younger sisters were at home, one sick, the other left to look after her. The ground where my mother stood turned wet. She had urinated on herself out of fear. The sky was no longer blue. It had become a sheet of thick black smoke. In the distance, homes coughed fire and people ran like ants from an overturned nest. Screams scattered in the wind. The attackers chased those who ran toward our farm. They were coming. We had been seen. The land offers no cover here. It is flat and wide. It betrays you.

My father’s mind raced faster than the bikes. He pointed to a narrow hole. It looked like one of those where something was mined from. The opening was wide enough for us to squeeze through and we did. We did not ask what was inside. We did not think where it led to. We just entered.

The smell around was of damp and death. We squeezed in, my siblings and I, while my parents and one of my brothers covered the hole with dry leaves and grass. They stayed outside. There was no room for all of us. From that tiny breath-hole, I watched.

The men on bikes came. Five of them. Guns slung carelessly like tools of a craft they had effortlessly mastered. But they chose to use knives instead. Long, rusted, personal. They circled my parents and brother like wolves around a tired prey. They chanted a God is great prayer to a God they no longer feared. And then, they cut wherever their razors could reach. Blood.

My father begged, his voice cracking like old wood. My mother shrieked as they cut, and then they cut and struck my brother down with the butt of a gun.

They spoke in Hausa with a Fulani accent: “Shegu jamu kakashe dukan ku!”

Then more chants of “God is great,” and more bikes revving into the distance. Their glee carried by gunshots and war cries: Eeehhuuhuuuuu! rent the air as they made their way to join the others. And then, there was silence, except for my mother’s wail. It was sharp and soul-piercing. She crawled to my brother’s lifeless body and pulled it close as though she could tuck him back into her womb.

My father just sat there, blood pooling around him. His eyes were vacant. He was staring, like he could see a world we could not. When I could not take it in anymore. I blacked out. My young mind gave up.

By the time I finally came around, I learnt that my father did not make it to the next day. My two sisters who were left at home were slaughtered. With knives. My mother is still in shock. My other brothers and I are just hanging in there.

We saw the assailants, what they looked like, the language they spoke how they prayed to the god they prayed to. We also know that their kind occupy many of the villages around that were razed before now.

It is said that when people are pushed to the wall, they will push back, not out of bravery, but out of necessity. I fear what will happen now that we are at the edge of that point. Survival is not cowardice. It is instinct. But how long do you stay law-abiding while the law does not see your blood as worth avenging?

How long do you bow to a system that rewards those who live outside it?

First it was Jos, now christened “Jos crisis”, then Riyom, Barkin Ladi, Bassa, Mangu, Wase, Kanam. Everywhere on the Plateau is getting a taste of the 21st-century jihad. I hear that there are people who gain from the fire. People who watch it from high windows and sip their tea. People who call for peace but fund the bullets. And then, there are people like me, Uren, who only ever wanted to farm, to live and to love my land.

If you want more information on the Fulani raiders, you can watch a BBC documentary from 2022 called The Bandit Warlords of Zamfara. It is from a more northern area of Nigeria, but much of the information is applicable. Please note that it is very graphic and not suitable for all viewers.

Also note that these attacks have also broken out farther north in Bassa LGA (county). For details you can see this report from Morning Star News, a US based service focussed on the persecution of Christians.

STM Update 4.5.25

We were advised this morning by Naomi Famonure that attacks have been taking place in Bokkos LGA with the death toll now above 60. Reports are that most of the victims are women and children. It appears the attacks began several days ago at a funeral, and when alleged attackers were arrested, increasingly violent attacks followed. AK-47's and their distinctive magazines were recovered. Deceased are being buried in mass graves.

Naomi asks for prayer for these predominantly Christian regions that are so often attacked, and also for their own safety as they are hosting 90 women for training to be Bible study leaders over the next few days at Gana Ropp. These Bible study groups focussing on widows have been very fruitful and growing in numbers, including in Bokkos.

Updates will be posted here if the situation becomes worse or if we have additional information from Noami.