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Nigeria: “14 Christians murdered after church carol service,” “A trail of grief and trauma”

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Three days before Christmas on December 22, suspected Fulani Islamic terrorists in Nigeria’s Plateau state ambushed and murdered 14 Christians, including a pregnant woman and her 1-year-old daughter, shortly after a carol service at the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.

The ECWA community has around 1,000 Christians living 22 miles from Plateau state’s capital, Jos, ICC said. Those killed on Sunday were part of Nigeria’s Irigwe people, a predominantly Christian population that has been vulnerable to violent attacks by Fulani terrorists.

“The Irigwe people, a predominantly Christian group, have faced ongoing adversity, including violence and displacement by Fulani ethnic militias, with more than 2,000 Christians killed since 2016,” ICC said in its report. “This recent incident adds to a troubling history of attacks that often coincide with significant Christian celebrations.”

In a 2024 website report about the devastating violence perpetrated against Nigerian believers, the Open Doors international Christian advocacy organization states: “Christians in Nigeria, particularly in the Muslim-majority north, continue to live under immense pressure and to be terrorized with devastating impunity by Islamic militants and armed “bandits.” More believers are killed for their faith in Nigeria each year, than everywhere else in the world combined.”

“The attacks are often brutal in nature and can involve destruction of properties, abductions for ransom, sexual violence and death. Believers are stripped of their livelihoods and driven from their homes, leaving a trail of grief and trauma,” Open Doors attests.

With more believers killed on account of their faith in this country than in the rest of the world combined, Nigeria ranks sixth on the Open Doors World Watch List 2024 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.