Suspected Fulani militants are thought to be behind a number of recent kidnappings and killings in Nigeria. Two young Christian women and a 6-year-old boy were killed in Plateau last week when the Islamic radicals attacked Kpachudu village in Miango District, Bassa County.
According to Morning Star News, those killed were Emmanuel David, 6; Asabe John, 25; and Mary Andrew, 18. The week prior, a 64-year-old Christian community leader was one of eight Christians killed in Plateau state by Fulani herdsmen. Chundung Bulus, 52, said her husband Bulus Chuwang Janka was brutally attacked after being lured out of his house by a phone call.
“We were watching a program on television together with my husband at about 7:30 p.m. when suddenly our electric generator switched off – and suddenly, his mobile phone rang,” she said.
When his husband went outside to try to find a spot for better network reception, he was set upon.
“A few minutes after he stepped out of the house, we heard distress shouts for help from him,” Bulus explained. “My son and I rushed out to find out what was happening, when his attackers also shot at us. We were able to identify them as herdsmen. We escaped and hid ourselves and saw how my husband was being cut with machetes by the herdsmen.”
In response to the slayings, Dagallang Dabot, chairman of the Berom Educational and Cultural Organization said: “We are getting tired of being subjected to violence by armed Muslim Fulani herdsmen without the Nigerian government doing anything to end these unprovoked attacks on us."
In addition to the killings, Morning Star reported that a minister with Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) was been kidnapped in an incident last Tuesday. Rev. Chris Dariya was abducted alongside his son, Benji Dariya, by suspected Fulani herdsmen from their home in Jos.
Ralph Madugu, editor of the ECWA’s Today’s Challenge Magazine, confirmed the news:
“The son of Rev. Chris Dariya, who was kidnapped last night alongside his dad, has escaped from their captors, but his father is still being held."