10 Christians killed in Easter massacre in Nigeria

[WARNING: Contains graphic details of violence]

Reports have emerged of a massacre over the Easter weekend by which 10 Christians were killed in Nigeria.

The attack occurred on Easter Monday across three communities within the parish of St Thomas the Apostle in Bokkos, Plateau State. It has been attributed to Fulani militants.

The victims included a pregnant woman and her unborn baby, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) reports.

Fr Andrew Dewan, director of communications in Pankshin Diocese, where the attack took place, shared horrific details of how the pregnant woman’s stomach was “slit open”. 

“The baby was not spared,” he said. 

“There is a pattern to those attacks, and so they’re an ongoing feature of living within the region. They may be linked to the attacks over Christmas.”

In those attacks, spread over 4 days at Christmas, Fulani militants killed at the least 300 Christians in a rampage across 26 villages in Bokkos. Sixteen camps for internally displaced individuals (IDPs) were arrange in Bokkos after the tragedy to shelter those displaced from their homes.

Fr Dewan fears that the Easter Monday attack can have been carried out in revenge for the killing of two Fulani youths, considered one of whom was beheaded. 

“It’s a cycle of violence. Locals are searching for ways to defend themselves against the barrage of violence,” he said. 

“The security response of the federal government is insufficient. In times of crisis, communities don’t trust in governments to guard them. They take shelter in churches, which are not used to coping with such a deluge of IDPs,” he said. 

Despite the challenges, he said that faith was sustaining the Church and IDPs but he also said that the federal government “must play their part” in protecting the lifetime of all residents. 

“It’s for us to sustain our preaching on the Gospel values, and exhort the federal government to safeguard the lives of the people,” he said. 

“Faith plays a crucial part, if not for the religion that has sustained the IDPs to this point we might witness large scale conversion to other religions. In the face of those challenges, the IDPs have remained strong.”

He admitted that it has been difficult for the churches to support so many displaced people but said they were able to stand by them “through thick and thin”.

“Imagine cooking for hundreds of individuals monthly. We have not planned or stocked up for these emergencies, so we’re often caught unprepared,” he said. 

“We often have to make appeals to organisations to assist the diocese on the receiving end of those brutal attacks.

“It’s tough and difficult, so our response to those humanitarian emergencies has reinforced our faith within the Gospel. We see a church which is responsive, and which does not forget their people or people of other faiths.”