Church calls for tighter security after 10 slaughtered
According to leading Church figures, over 100 people have been killed and 90,000 displaced in the Taraba State region since September 2025.
Following a fresh massacre, the Church in Nigeria’s Middle Belt has again called for action to address extremist violence. Ten villagers died in Tuesday’s (10 February) attack on Mchia in Taraba State, north-eastern Nigeria, apparently carried out by militant members of the Fulani herder community.
On 12 February, senior clerics from Wukari Diocese – Fr Anthony Bature, Fr James Yaro, Fr Moses Angyian and Fr Augustine Chifu – issued a statement to Nigerian journalists stressing this was only the latest in a long line of atrocities.
In the statement, a copy of which was sent to Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, they said violence has increased in southern Taraba since September 2025 and the area is now facing a “crisis situation”. According to the priests: “More than 100 persons have been killed so far, several others injured with various degrees of injuries, while over 200 communities and churches have been destroyed and the residents, numbering over 90,000 Catholics, displaced.”
They stated that as part of the ongoing violence “priests’ residences and Church buildings are targeted and destroyed.” Describing the general pattern of the attacks, the senior clerics said the assailants usually enter villages early in the morning, while most people are sleeping, “killing anyone in sight and setting houses and harvests ablaze.”
“The suspected Fulani militia have also taken over the entire farmlands of the people and would attack anybody who dares to visit his farm in an attempt to get food for his family. Some women have been raped in the process of doing so. There have been instances where they block the roads and kill unsuspecting and harmless farmers with impunity,” they added. “Most recently the Fulani Militia have resorted to harvesting the farm produce of displaced communities and feeding it to their animals.”
While thanking Taraba State Government and the security agencies for their ongoing work, the priests appealed for action “to address and put an end to the carnage that has been going on in Chanchanji Ward and other parts of Takum, Ussa and more recently, parts of Donga Local Government Areas in order to restore peace in the affected communities.”
In particular they called for:
- Urgent mobilisation of security personnel to the outlying areas where the attacks are occurring.
- All levels of government to ensure security guarantees and bring those responsible to justice “through their immediate arrest and prosecution, irrespective of their ethnic, political and religious affiliations.”
- A concerted effort to provide emergency aid to Internally Displaced Persons – including food, bedding and medicine – “to avert a major humanitarian disaster.”
- Key players in the affected areas – including traditional rulers, religious leaders, security agencies and local government chairmen – to hold constructive dialogue to foster long-term peace and stability in southern Taraba State.
In their document the senior priests pledge to continue to pray that God will guide and protect government officials, traditional rulers and security personnel working to address the crisis, adding “the bishop, priests, religious and the laity of the Catholic Diocese of Wukari are not discouraged, but convinced that with God on their side and with sustained prayers and collaborative efforts between the Church and the State, lasting peace can be achieved.”
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