Christians Slain by Islamists in Nigeria
By Joseph DeCaro, Worthy News Correspondent
JOS, NIGERIA (Worthy News)– In the latest of a series of attacks this year in the Wase area of Plateau state, Nigeria, Fulani Muslims killed one Christian and destroyed church buildings in four villages Tuesday.
“Muslim Fulani terrorists attacked some villages, including Bakin Rijiya village where Toma Vongjen was killed, and in Kumbur, Wase Tofa, Angwan Sayawa, some churches were also destroyed,” the Rev. Dinfa Lamda, Church of Christ in Nations in Jos, told Morning Star News.
“There are Christian villages that have been completely wiped out by these Muslim terrorists. Just last week Muslim Fulani herdsmen attacked some Christian farmers in Wase and destroyed all the crops they planted on their farms.”
Lamda said Muslims have attacked Plateau state Christian communities in Wase, Langtang and Shendam.
“For a number of years, the attacks on Christians in these three local government areas have caused the displacement of thousands of Christians there,” he said. “There is a very lamentable problem, as we are no longer able to worship God as Christians in this part of Nigeria.”
In the last six months, more than 100 Christian farmers have been killed or injured and almost 100 churches destroyed in attacks by armed Muslim Fulani herdsmen.
“They are armed with military assault guns and attack Christian communities at random, sometimes at night, or during daytime, when these Christians, who are mostly farmers, are on their farms,” the Rev. Johnson Kikem, Chairman of the COCIN Regional Church Council in Langtang, told Morning Star News. “This has forced those that have survived the attacks to flee from their communities, and hundreds of them are staying here in Langtang town as displaced persons.”
Kikem said Islamic extremists are believed to be arming Muslims and encouraging them to attack Christians.
“It’s because we have refused to bow to the god of Islam, and so the plan is to forcefully Islamize us,” he said. “It is part of the Islamic agenda to impose sharia on Christians in the northern part of Nigeria.”
Christians, who live mostly in the south, make up 51 percent of Nigeria’s population, while Muslims account for 45 percent and reside mainly in the north, according to Operation World.