The Ongoing ‘Genocide’ the World Ignores
The ongoing slaughter of Christians in northern Nigeria
While much of the world celebrates Christmas, it is of course a particularly special time for those who have a faith in Jesus Christ. This is no less true for believers in Plateau State, Nigeria – who were greatly looking forward to commemorating the birth of their Lord and Saviour. Instead, a deja-vu season of mayhem, mass murder and deep mourning began to unfold.
And all the while the world remained virtually silent.
Christmas carnage
Beginning on the evening of 23rd December and continuing till the morning of Christmas Day, Fulani Islamist militia groups systematically slaughtered scores of Christians in a wave of well-coordinated attacks in two districts of Plateau State, in Nigeria’s predomantly Muslim Middle Belt. The dead consisted mostly of women and children, and included a number of physically challenged individuals who were unable to run and who were therefore burnt alive.
While initial reports put the number killed at between 140 and 160, more recent statistics gathered by Barnabas Fund have set the total death figure at nearly 300 - constituting the worst anti-Christian violence seen in Nigeria in years.
Barnabas Fund have set the total death figure at nearly 300 - constituting the worst anti-Christian violence seen in Nigeria in years.
The carnage was unimaginable. Some twenty-five remote and widely scattered villages were targeted. In total more than 1,500 homes were burnt, eight churches destroyed, many hundreds of people injured and 30,000 displaced. This was one of the darkest days in recent Nigerian history.
Eyewitnesses said that it took up to 12 hours after the attacks started for help to arrive. A former Nigerian chief of army staff said this was because government troops were working alongside the attackers. A number of others were killed in other northern Nigerian states during the same Christmas season.
Media silence
Most of us did not hear about the more recent massacre until well after Christmas Day, and many of us not till after New Year’s Day – the main reason being that the horrific story received next to no coverage in the British mainstream media – and virtually none at all on mainstream TV media.
The Guardian was one of the few UK newspapers that reported on the mass killings – detailing the tragedy on its online platform as early as the evening of Christmas Day itself. However, like almost all other secular news media that bothered to pick up on the story, The Guardian failed to note that the victims were mainly Christians.
... the horrific story received next to no coverage in the British mainstream media – and virtually none at all on mainstream TV media.
A more startling revelation is the fact that most British news outlets failed to highlight the Nigerian atrocities. The absence of television coverage on this most significant news story has been more notable still. Major channels like ITV, Sky and Channel 4 spectacularly failed to notify its viewers concerning the matter. As did the BBC, who, while living up to its policy of almost never covering Islamic attacks against Nigerian Christians on its television news broadcasts, might at least have been expected to include a short report in its online news forum, if only for the purpose of counteracting anyone daring to raise a complaint for non-coverage.
Secular explanations
In its report, The Guardian, like Reuters and the German newspaper Die Zeit, partially blamed climate change for the murders, stating that “Competition for natural resources between nomadic herders and farmers, intensified by rapid population growth and climate pressures, has exacerbated social tensions and sparked violence.”
But those with a deeper understanding of the Nigeria scenario insist the timing of this specific program had clear “religious undertones.” Attacks against Christians during major celebrations like Christmas and Easter are not uncommon in northern Nigeria. The chairman for the Plateau chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria said the assailants sent letters to the villages in advance, warning them they “will not celebrate Christmas, but run away with their rice.” He expressed surprise that security was not able to act on such prior warning.
The chairman of the Para-Mallam Peace Foundation also expressed exasperation with secular explanations. “A terrible genocide is taking place in Plateau State, but it is being window-dressed to look like a clash between farmers and herders,” he stated. “Sadly, false and misleading narratives are created while rivers of blood continue to flow.”
... those with a deeper understanding of the Nigeria scenario insist the timing of this specific program had clear “religious undertones.”
A Roman Catholic priest who heads a charity helping Christians start small businesses in areas where they have been heavily persecuted, mainly by Muslims, said that blaming the attacks on climate change: “… is the narrative of the post-Christian globalist West. How could they dare admit there is a genocide going on in Nigeria perpetrated by Muslims against Christians—it would demand action.”
Legacy of anti-Christian violence
The recent atrocities follow a number of other mass killings that have taken place over the past two years in Nigeria. Across the Middle Belt, at least 2,600 people were killed in 2021 alone. It is estimated that in the last 14 years, more than 52,000 Christians have been murdered in Nigeria because of their faith.
In addition to murders, a recent report claims that as many as five million Christians in Nigeria have been displaced or moved to internal refugee camps within the country and at least 18,000 churches across the country have been set on fire, along with over 2,200 Christian schools.
Another noteworthy statistic is that since Sharia law was introduced in Nigeria, 50,000 Christians have been killed. Mission organizations are reporting that Christian persecution is at its highest in 30 years.
Last year, it is estimated that around 5,620 Christians were killed worldwide because of their faith. Strikingly, 90% of them were northern Nigerians.
Global ignorance
Tragically, persecution against Christians in Nigeria is becoming shockingly commonplace. According to Open Doors, last year, it is estimated that around 5,620 Christians were killed worldwide because of their faith. Strikingly, 90% of them were northern Nigerians. Yet most of the world knows next to nothing about it.
If such widespread slaughter were being perpetuated against any other religious or ethnic minority in the world - especially a Muslim minority – one might expect widespread media alarm and news coverage. It is of course, a different story when Christians are the victims, and especially so when Muslims are the perpetrators.
Then it becomes a politically incorrect incident the world conveniently prefers to ignore. A curious blend of media muteness, disinformation and communication censorship.
The grieving communities of Christians need our prayers as they continue to suffer persecution for their faith, for simply wanting to be Christians and worship Jesus Christ. Let us remember them before the Lord.
Update 10th January
Tragically, the brutal massacre of Christians that started at Christmas has carried over into the new year with copious amounts of further blood being shed.
c/o https://www.researchgate.net/Ezra Gayawan
Unidentified terrorists killed eight Christians in Taraba state on Thurs December 28, after 13 others were slain the previous week. The assailants attacked four predominantly Christian villages at about 4 p.m., residents said.
Crossing into the New Year, 14 men were killed in co-ordinated attacks by Islamist militants on Christian communities in Borno State on 1st January.
The following day, terrorists apparently took over several communities in Niger State (Jan 2nd). They set up a toll gate, and imposed restrictions on the free movement of goods and people, forcing residents to pay levies before doing so.
The day after that, January 3rd, suspected Fulani Islamic jihadists slaughtered 41 Christians and kidnapped numerous others in four or five villages in Kaduna state.
Two days later, on January 5th, an Islamic terrorist group (thought to have been Islamic State West Africa Province or a faction of Boko Haram) killed a church pastor and 13 other members of the Church of Christ in Nations in Kwari town, Yobe state.
That's at least six separate States of northern Nigeria represented by these attacks - Taraba, Borno, Kaduna, Yobe (all Nort East Region), along with Plateau and Niger (North Central Region). Over the past couple of weeks, the slaugther of Christians in Nigeria has been an almost daily occurrence. Yet still the world fails to acknowledge this heinous massacre.
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Author:
Tom Lennie