Release International

Summary: A Nigerian pastor is the latest to die after a church massacre by Islamist militants, bringing the death toll to 49. The victims had sought refuge in a church as violence erupts across Plateau State, central Nigeria. The attacks are orchestrated to shift the balance of the population to impose strict Islamic law. A prominent Nigerian church leader is the latest of almost 50 people to die after machete-wielding militants raided a church where terrified Christians were hiding.

Rev Samson Bukar was among the victims taken to a hospital funded by Release International, where staff were already overwhelmed after an explosion of violence against Christians across Plateau State.

Rev Bukar, local chairman of the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN), later died of his injuries, bringing the death toll of the church massacre to 49. Hundreds are believed to have died in the violence across Plateau State over the past three weeks.

Militants – thought mostly to be ethnic Fulani Muslims – burst into the mainly-Christian town of Yelwa armed with automatic rifles, machetes, bows and arrows on February 24. With cries of ‘Allah Akbar’ (‘God is great’), they set fire to several buildings in the church compound then burst into the church itself where Christians had run for cover.

‘Suddenly one of the Fulani militants dealt a severe machete blow to one of the Christians, cutting his skull,’ recalls one of the Rev Bukar’s sons. ‘They landed blows on everyone, including my father, the Reverend. As I was escaping, I was hit by one of them and fell to the ground unconscious. When I regained consciousness, my sister and I found our father in a pool of blood.’ Women and children are reported to be among the dead.

A Release International (RI) representative based in the area reports that the Yelwa church massacre is just one incident in a wave of violence sweeping Plateau State, central Nigeria, since mid-February. He has recently returned from the Wase area where militants – again thought to be Fulani – have left a trail of devastation.

The death toll has yet to be finalised but many villages have been completely destroyed. The RI-funded hospital is treating many people seriously injured in these raids – including a woman whose body was completely pierced by an arrow.

Venmichit Lokdam from Timshat village in Langtang South is one of its patients; her back is covered in wounds. ‘The militant Fulani came in around 5am, during morning prayer,’ she says. ‘We heard gunshots and saw flames on our houses. We started running in confusion. They shot me with my baby on my back and she died instantly. The same bullet penetrated me. My nine other children are displaced.’ RI representatives report that thousands of people in Langtang South alone have fled their homes. They continue to seek sanctuary in church buildings, hoping the militants will leave them in safety.

The violence broke out after a Fulani Muslim leader publicly rejected a peace initiative on February 11 aimed at quelling the disturbances.

Plateau State has suffered clashes between Muslims and Christians for several years. In September 2001, more than 1,000 people were killed during a week of inter-religious violence in Jos, the state capital.

Eddie Lyle, the Executive Director of Release International, says: ‘To our dismay, the violence against Christians is getting worse. We are treating 18 victims of this latest attack at our hospital in Plateau State. Their injuries are appalling. Rev Samson Bukar is the first Christian leader to have died of his wounds there. How many others will follow before the international community wakes up to the violence spreading across Nigeria?

‘This move to drive out Christians is part of an orchestrated campaign to impose strict Islamic law. To get the majority they need, the militants must first eliminate the Christians. And this is what they are trying to do.’

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