A series of attacks on Christian communities in December, including on Christmas day, left dozens dead, according to recent reports from local Church sources to Aid to the Church in Need.
Dozens of Christians were killed in attacks in and around Christmas time in Nigeria, especially in Benue State. News of these attacks only recently came to the attention of the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), after the foundation received reports from local Church partners, highlighting the lack of coverage of such attacks in Nigeria by international media.
According to the Diocese of Gboko, which covers part of Benue State, the deadliest of these attacks occurred on Christmas Day in Anwase, and claimed at least 47 lives, including adults and children.
Father Isaiah Ter, Executive Director of Caritas in the Diocese of Gboko, told ACN that besides the human casualties, the attackers “burnt down the eight Catholic churches of St. Mary’s Parish, including the parish house, clinics, schools and other houses”.
“The parish priest and the assistant parish priest escaped and stayed in the bush for a whole day before they were finally rescued,” said the diocese, in a report sent to ACN.
Benue State is in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, a region where the majority Christian south and the majority Muslim north meet, and which has seen many conflicts over the past decades, due to a variety of factors, including interreligious tension but also disputes over land, involving the mostly Muslim Fulani herdsmen and settled farmers, who are often Christian. These conflicts have become more deadly for the Christians in recent years due to an influx of automatic weapons among the herdsmen. The role of religion in the violence is unclear, though there are fears that the traditional ethnic and land disputes have been weaponised by extremist Islamist movements.
Gboko diocese has suffered many such attacks over the past decade, leading to the destruction of over 20 communities and 32 churches. Prior to the attack during the Christmas period, close to 100 people were killed in a string of incidents between January and November 2024 and the situation has led to a massive increase in the number of internally displaced. With the attack during Christmas, the number of those killed has risen to close to 150.
The most recent attack caused at least 6,800 new IDPs, for a total of 14,633 in the region. The diocese has been helping these people to survive, and reached out to ACN, which has offered emergency help.
Other attacks took place in different parts of Nigeria during the Christmas period, including in the Diocese of Makurdi, also located in Benue State, and in Plateau State which is also part of the Middle Belt.
The Catholic Church in Nigeria has repeatedly called on the Government to improve security conditions and act more decisively to counter terrorist and intercommunal attacks, but crime continues to be rampant in the country.
By Filipe d’Avillez.
