Plagued by unprovoked abductions, torture, killings, and raids of Christian villages across north-central Nigeria, the Catholic Bishop of Makurdi diocese, Most Rev. Wilfred Chikpa Anagbe, CMF has called on the US Congress to redesignate Nigeria as a country of Particular Concern (CPC) citing unabated Jihadi wars on his flock.
“Nigeria and eventually my diocese and the state of Benue have become in recent years one of the most dangerous and insecure places for Christians” the Bishop of the capital of Benue State, disclosed adding that “Islamic extremists are fiercely contesting the possession, control and governing law of the land, especially in the country’s northern and central regions the latter of which is where Benue is located.”
Speaking at the US House Foreign Affairs Committee (Africa Subcommittee) meeting held on Tuesday 11 March to seek international intervention as a result of incessant carnage on his people by suspected Islamists across northern Nigeria, he regrated that “there are constant ethnic, political and religious conflicts over land” in the West African nation where Christians and Muslims are nearly evenly divided in the most populous black nation of over 2.3 million people.
While the Bishop was delivering his message in faraway New York, on the same day, 11 March irate youths in Naka, the headquarters of Gwer-West County of Benue State, took to the streets in mob action burning and destroying the County Secretariat, the palace of the local Chief, Ter-Nagi and a hotel belonging to a politician.
This came at the heels of the recent brutal killing of three innocent youths in the area by suspected armed Fulani herdsmen.
Nigeria “a Church under Islamists’ extermination”
Meanwhile, the 59-year-old Bishop, who insisted that the attacks are not only happening in Benue state,” maintained, “I believe that our experience in Benue is symptomatic of what is happening elsewhere in large parts of Nigeria. The experience for the Nigerian Christians today can be summed up as that of a Church under Islamists’ extermination. It is frightening to live there.
“Apart from the violent campaigns and attacks against Christian villages, there are now attempts by the Islamic Council of Nigeria and various Islamic groups to impose Sharia Law on the Christian populations,” he said.
Bishop Anagbe maintained that “The clear influence of Islamic extremists has changed the traditional social dynamics of tribe, ethnicity, religion and the social status in Nigeria because just recently, at the beginning of the Ramadan fast, governors of 12 states in northern Nigeria decided to abruptly close all schools and education institutions during the month of Ramadan leaving millions of children without learning opportunities for 5 weeks…”
The Claretian Bishop decried “this sectarian religious law and attempts to extend the same to South Nigeria, which they have started. Which other country in the world does that? Saudi Arabia is not doing it, Afghanistan is not doing it, Baghdad is not doing it, but then Nigeria is [doing it]. What kind of Islam are they practicing? 12 states – and not only Muslims are living in these places. What happens to the educational programs or curriculum of the country? But this is what we are going through every day in Nigeria.”
Tracing the history of the persecution, he revealed that there has been “A long-term Islamic agenda to homogenize the population has been implemented. Over several presidencies [governments], a strategy [is in place] to reduce and eventually eliminate the Christian identity of half of the population.”
Further buttressing this point, the prelate underscored that “This strategy includes both violent and non-violent actions such as the exclusion of Christians from positions of power and the abduction of Church members, the raping of women, the killing and expulsion of Christians, the destruction of Churches and farmlands of Christian farmers followed by the occupation of such lands by the Fulani herders and also, changing the names of these villages. They are taking over the places.
“You clearly see an expansionist approach and they are making the people flee and leave their villages and they conquer it.”
The Catholic Bishop accused the aristocracy in northern Nigeria of the menace saying, “The quest to Islamise the land appears high on the agenda of some of the powerful and influential Muslims in Nigeria.
“There is a campaign to take land to spread Islam. There is the hemorrhaging of Christian farmers from the central region of Nigeria and Benue State, Makurdi diocese, in particular, is, therefore, forced to abandon the land that used to feed the nation which classifies Benue as the food basket of the nation.”
He singled out the “militant Fulani herdsmen” whom he described as “terrorists destroying society” for mention insisting that “They steal and vandalize; they kill and boast about it; they kidnap, and rape.”
On what seems like “a [looming] religious war,” the outspoken religious leader stated, “Like in the past, many jihadists are motivated less by religion than by spoils of war and use their religion to impose themselves.”
Citing examples, he underlined that “In my diocese, the spoils consist mainly of fertile, wet-ended land organized around my parishes” adding that “The Jihadists come and abduct the priest, leaving thousands without support and basic human services – and of course when they disperse the people or the inhabitants, or the citizens or the people [who own] the lands, they take over and any attempt to go back and take care of your farms, surely, you get killed.”
Reiterating that Benue is the epicenter of “invasion by these herders who are more like hired guns of cattle oligarchies who manipulate religion to rally the herders to eliminate the Christian population and cleanse the land in the name of Islam,” he underscored that “This objective is behind the relentless attacks against Benue’s villages.”
While decrying that if Nigeria goes to war, it will portend doom for other neighboring countries, the Christian leader observed that if the African continent allows a prosperous nation like Nigeria to go to war, its neighbors – Chad, Niger, Ghana, and Togo “cannot contain the population that would flee to these places – No country can house over 5 million refugees. It is not possible. And if 1 million refugees run to Chad or Niger, they will collapse that country because there will be no plan to take care of them” adding that, “We have to be very careful.”
Government’s conspiracy; complacency halting law and order
Blaming the attacks on conspiracy by the authorities, the bishop narrated “When we call for help to the police and the army, they do not come. At the end of 2024, several villages were warned by the attackers of the upcoming violence, and the leaders called the police for defence ahead of time, but they did not come and the Christian massacres almost customary took place killing hundreds in Plateau and Benue with the worst massacre claiming 47 people.”
Citing grim figures, he disclosed that “The militants also burnt down the 8 Catholic churches of St. Mary’s parish in the diocese of Gboko, which is in Benue State as well as the parish house, clinic, schools and other houses. The militant Fulani herdsmen [attack] innocent defenseless villages without consequences. They follow orders to conquer, kill,and occupy – they attack even those who have managed to escape into Internally Displaced People’s (IDP) camps. Thereby, they have no place to run [to].
“It is unfortunate that [in] the police system in Nigeria, orders have to come from above and such that once there is a call, they say they [have not been given others]. By the time they arrive, these people have left, and the people are now left in the pool of their blood.”
Further accusing the government of complicity, he said, “They enjoy total immunity from the elected authorities. None of them have been arrested and brought to justice. This is supported by the corrupt system in which we operate and the abject poverty among us, which allows the criminals to easily attract more recruits and prey on more victims.
“And this is why I think the government is complacent on this issue. These terrorists, Fulanis, displace and kill people and then occupy the place and change the names – nomenclatures of these towns. And where they say, they want to live in peace with the natives, if you must farm, you have pay tax to hire the land which belongs to you – that is slavery, to say the least about it.”
Recall that over 54 communities in Plateau State, north-central Nigeria, have been reportedly taken over by the Fulani invaders and renamed.
On the government’s readiness to tackle the matter, the Bishop who has been bishop of the diocese for slightly over 10 years said, “We have the capacity but because the leaders [that we have] are not prepared. I know that Nigeria under the auspices of The Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) was able to reinstate constitutional governments in Sierra Leone and Liberia and they can do that now. It is not just a conspiracy of silence, it is aiding and abetting and supporting these terrorists to keep doing their work.”
“Redesignate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern”
To the Congress, he said, “I implore this august body to insist on the return of all the IDPs to their ancestral lands and not to relocate them to other constructed camps elsewhere which is an invented solution now being pushed by the Benue State government and now I tell you, Nigerian government can do that.”
The prelate further pleaded saying, “I urge you all to use every means within your mandate to start developing a strong and good relationship with Nigeria where you know that when you speak of human dignity, you are also speaking of the same God-given right you believe is unalienable. Consider that Nigeria can be your ally, but it cannot be one where half the population is in the process of being murderously eliminated.”
“Our desperate plight has been set aside US foreign policy for too long to the cost of thousands of lives,” the Bishop said, adding: “Concretely, I request, and I plead and ask you to redesignate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC). This has both a practical and diplomatic meaning to signal that you are paying attention to what happens to us and then elsewhere in the world.”
On current government policies to return the IDPs or build camps for them far from their original homes, the cleric lamented “It is not durable and it would not work because the government has already the population [that it] is not ready take care of and you have over millions of people in the camp and you want to relocate them to where and if you do…how many houses or rooms will you give me who has 5 children, another one has 3, another one has 2?
“What will I be doing for a living? These people previously never begged for food. They were managing their lives, training their children, and building their homes. So, nobody should deceive us under the guise that you are going to settle the IDPs. They have no jobs…if you settle them in other camps or build places for them, what happens to their ancestral lands? Who takes care of them?”
“To remain silent is to die twice.”
Lamenting that “We live in fear because, at any point, it can be our turn to be killed but to remain silent is to die twice,” he underlined that “I have chosen to speak – I speak on behalf of the millions who are in the camps. In Benue State, in Makurdi diocese alone, [there are] about 9 camps.”
The Bishop recounted that on the 5 of March, in the company of his priests and religious one of the camps they visited various “camps to begin the Ash Wednesday with our faithful who are there because we are the voice of the voiceless” so “we have to talk for the defenseless, we have to talk about the weak and those who cannot talk about themselves.”
On the hardship the displaced faithful are facing, he disclosed that “In one of the camps which is the mega camp there were 3000 inmates in that camp which was a record given to us by government,” re-echoing the words, “I speak on half of them and those children – who have no father, and even their voices taken over by politicians promised to help them but have become the willing tools of the jihadist because they are talking politically correct statements looking for next elections to come.
“I speak on behalf of those whose loved ones have been killed but no one has even offered a word of consolation to them. I speak on behalf of the thousands of young girls who have been abducted and raped because not even the media mentions them anymore.”
On those denied the rights to free worship and means of livelihood, the Nigerian cleric stated, “I speak on behalf of my flock who are unable to worship freely and unable to return to their ancestral farms and homes because that land has been ruthlessly taken from them by the armed herdsmen – So, let the people go back to their homes and help for them to rebuild their lands.
“Work with us the Churches and other Nigerians of goodwill. This is my plea – We are working for a peaceful and prosperous society,” said, he.
All eyes are on the 58-year-old Governor Hyacinth Alia, a suspended Catholic priest, who in his close to 2 years in office, having been elected on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), is faced with finding a lasting solution to attacks on his people by marauding herdsmen.
Fr. Justine John Dyikuk, a priest of Bauchi Diocese, North-Eastern Nigeria is a UK Freelance Travel Journalist, a Ph.D. researcher in Journalism, Media, and Communication at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, and a Senior Fellow for International Religious Freedom Policy, Religious Freedom Institute (RFI), Washington DC, resident at St. Andrew’s Cathedral Glasgow, UK.
