PLATEAU STATE — Church leaders in Plateau State, Nigeria are calling on the government to intervene as a reported 6,000 people in Christian-identified communities have been either killed or maimed by Fulani Muslims in 2018 alone.
“What is happening in Plateau state and other select states in Nigeria is pure genocide and must be stopped immediately,” reads a statement released by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).
It said that the violence by the Muslim herdsman is particularly severe in the north and middle belt, and that women, children and the elderly have been affected by the attacks the most. CAN feels that little is being done about the matter, and that the “perpetrators are being deliberately allowed to go scot free.”
“We are particularly worried at the widespread insecurity in the country where wanton attacks and killings by armed Fulani herdsmen, bandits and terrorists have been taking place on a daily basis in our communities unchallenged despite huge investments in the security agencies,” the statement outlines.
“It is even more worrisome that these huge numbers of over 6,000 deaths in 2018 alone have been recorded in various attacks, especially in the northern and middle belt states of Benue, Plateau, Taraba, Adamawa, Kaduna, Kwara, Borno, Zamfara and other states when the country is not in a state of war.”
CAN said that the world has especially been brought to attention following the recent attacks in Barkin Ladi, Bokkos, Riyom and the Bassa local government areas of Plateau state.
“There is no doubt that the sole purpose of these attacks is aimed at ethnic cleansing, land grabbing and forceful ejection of the Christian natives from their ancestral land and heritage,” the Association stated.
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