The Church in Nigeria’s Middle Belt has renewed calls for stronger security after ten villagers were killed in an attack in Taraba State.
The assault took place on 10th February in Mchia, in north-eastern Nigeria. According to church leaders, the attack was carried out by militant members of the Fulani herder community and forms part of a wider pattern of escalating violence in the region.
In a statement issued on 12th February, senior clerics from the Diocese of Wukari described the situation in southern Taraba as a “crisis”. The statement, signed by Fr Anthony Bature, Fr James Yaro, Fr Moses Angyian and Fr Augustine Chifu, was sent to journalists.
The priests said violence had intensified since September 2025, with widespread destruction and displacement.
“More than 100 persons have been killed so far, several others injured with varying degrees of injury, while over 200 communities and churches have been destroyed and the residents, numbering over 90,000 Catholics, displaced,” the statement said.
They added that priests’ residences and church buildings have been specifically targeted.
Describing the pattern of attacks, the clerics said assailants often enter villages early in the morning while residents are asleep, “killing anyone in sight and setting houses and harvests ablaze”.
The statement also alleged that farmlands have been seized, with those attempting to return to their farms attacked. It further claimed that some women have been raped and that gunmen have blocked roads and killed farmers travelling through affected areas.
While thanking the Taraba State Government and security agencies for their ongoing efforts, the priests appealed for urgent action to end what they described as “carnage” across Chanchanji Ward and parts of Takum, Ussa and Donga Local Government Areas.
They called for the immediate deployment of additional security personnel to vulnerable rural communities and urged authorities at all levels to ensure those responsible are arrested and prosecuted “irrespective of their ethnic, political and religious affiliations”.
The diocese also appealed for increased humanitarian assistance for internally displaced people, including food, bedding and medical supplies, warning of the risk of a “major humanitarian disaster”.
Despite the ongoing violence, the priests expressed hope for the future.
“The bishop, priests, religious and the laity of the Catholic Diocese of Wukari are not discouraged, but convinced that with God on their side and with sustained prayers and collaborative efforts between the Church and the State, lasting peace can be achieved,” they said.