Benue, Nigeria - A series of deadly attacks on Christian communities occurred throughout the Holy Week in Benue state, north-central Nigeria. At least 94 people are reoprted to have been killed by Anti-Christian militias in the Middle Belt region.
On April 2, armed men attacked a Pentecostal church in Akenawe-Tswarev during a Palm Sunday service, killing a young boy and abducting the pastor and other worshipers.
Three days later, gunmen killed over 50 people in Umogidi, a Catholic stronghold in western Benue.
On the night of Good Friday, Anti-Christian militants raided an elementary school building in Ngban, which served as a shelter for approximately 100 displaced Christian farmers and their families. The attack left 43 people dead and over 40 injured, according to Father Remigius Ihyula, who heads the Benue branch of the Justice, Development, and Peace Commission (JDPC), a Nigerian Catholic relief organization.
The outgoing governor of Benue, Samuel Ortom, criticized the slow response of police and army units to his requests for help. Samuel had been urging for the last four years for federal laws to be changed to allow citizens to purchase firearms for self-defense, but his efforts were unsuccessful.
According to an anonymous relief worker from the Justice, Development, and Peace Commission (JDPC), who spoke to Catholic News Agency, police officers stationed at the checkpoint near the school in Ngban said that they had fought the attackers during the Good Friday attack and may have killed some of them. However, the attackers were able to retrieve their dead as they fled the scene.
The relief worker also reported that survivors of the attack were in need of medical attention and trauma counseling and would likely not be able to attend Easter Sunday services.
During a visit to survivors of the April 7 attack in Ngban, Governor Samuel Ortom said that at least 134 people were killed in attacks in Benue over five days. This included an April 3 raid in Apa that left 47 dead, according to a report by ThisDaylive.com, a Nigerian news outlet. It was not immediately clear on Monday whether Christians were the targets in that attack.
Benue State has an estimated 2 million displaced persons who cannot live on their traditional farmlands for fear of being killed. Some farmers venture back to cultivate their fields during the day and retreat to displaced person camps at night.
In March, 2023, Anti Christian militants killed 17 unarmed Christians in the Ungwan Wakili community in the Zangon Kataf LGA of Nigeria’s Kaduna State. Kaduna is in the country’s dangerous Middle Belt region, where militants have attacked Christian communities for years.
Nigeria is currently at the sixth place on the 2023 World Watch List, which ranks the top 50 countries with the worst Christian persecution. The previous year, Nigeria ranked in seventh place.
Since the rise of Boko Haram in 2009, over 45,000 Christians have been martyred in Nigeria just for their faith.