Gov. Caleb Mutfwang of Nigeria’s Plateau state declared a week of mourning Jan. 1-8 to honor the deaths of at least 200 Christians killed over Christmas by Fulani Muslim herders, targeting Christians in the country. Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto, Nigeria, said the attackers are “children of darkness” and come “from the deepest pit of hell.”
The Dec. 23-28 killings also have led to thousands of people being forced to flee their homes.
As many as 80 villages in the Plateau state were attacked, Christian aid group Release International reported Dec. 30. Bodies continue to be discovered, and attacks are expected to continue, the aid group said.
“I urge all citizens to use these days for intense prayers to seek the intervention of the almighty God in defending our territories against wicked men that have risen against us,” Mutfwang said in a video statement released Jan. 2.
The local leader asked that Friday Muslim prayers Jan. 5 and Sunday Masses Jan. 7 be dedicated “as special prayer days for lasting peace to return to the Plateau (region),” he said.
In a three-page New Year’s message, called “Blood and crucifixion on the Plateau,” Bishop Kukah strongly condemned the killers as “sons of Satan.”
Calling the killers “children of darkness,” he said they snatched “the light of the joy of Christmas from thousands of people on the Plateau.”
Bishop Kukah said he was appalled by the violence and killings in the northern states of Nigeria and blamed the country’s government and security agencies for failing to protect the citizens.
He voiced the hopelessness and despair of Nigerians, who he said are losing faith in their government and their religious leaders.
“While we religious leaders have continued to use our moral authority to encourage our people not to take the laws into their hands, we risk being swept away by the anger and frustration of our people,” he said, adding that Nigeria’s “cups of sorrow” are “overflowing.”
“We have cried enough tears. We may pretend that we are not at war, but truly, a war is being waged against the Nigerian state and its people. God forbid, but we could snap anytime, anywhere and for any reason,” Bishop Kukah wrote.
The semi-nomadic Fulani herders have been attacking Christian and Muslim Hausa farmers for years, claiming that farmers are taking over grazing lands crucial to their survival, but Christian groups reject that claim as they appeal for protection from the group that is radicalized as thousands have been killed in recent years.
According to the Vatican’s latest statistics, four of the nine missionaries killed in Africa in 2023 were recorded in Nigeria.
Open Doors reported that 90% of the more than 5,600 Christians killed for their faith last year were from Nigeria, with the total number of Christians killed in 2023 up 80% from five years ago.
Nigeria’s leading human rights advocacy group, Intersociety, observed the latest killings with “deepest shock, dismay and sadness,” saying that the Fulani group — called “jihadist” by Intersociety — “have continued unchecked to slaughter, abduct and disappear thousands of defenseless Nigerians.”
The group said that since the beginning of January 2023, 3,500 Christians were killed by the extremist group.