Christian Genocide in Nigeria: An Invitation to a New Mission
By: Festus Terkula Vambe
The media is full of reports about Gaza, Russia-Ukraine war, Israel-Iran conflict. If the networks are in the mood for ‘charity’ you might hear about the war in Sudan or the crisis in The Congo. If they are feeling very ‘charitable’ you might hear about the crisis in the Sahel region of Africa. We are not in a competition of whose situation is worse, but we recognize how under-reporting affects how quickly some crises are resolved.
The headlines in Nigeria are continuously alarming and troubling: 20 killed here, 11 killed on Christmas day, 200 massacred there, thousands displaced, 150 kidnapped etc. In 2019, the International Crisis Group think-tank warned that violence between Fulani herders and farmers could become as potentially dangerous as the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East. Six years later, it is now a new frontier in Nigeria’s prolonged security challenge. We are now talking of a deliberate attempt at land grabbing, ethnic cleansing, and the genocide of Christians in the North central region of Nigeria, also known as the middle belt.
In his Angelus address on 15th June, Pope Leo prayed for the victims of the Yelewata massacre. Over 100 hundred people were killed and many others displaced when gunmen attacked Yelewata and Dauda communities in Guma Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue state on 13 June 2025. People were shot and killed; houses were burned with people inside. Reports from people who survived were harrowing. Pictures and video from the incident are too gory and disturbing for publication. The Pope’s address brought international attention and publicity to the issue. It gave it the much-needed media attention. The president of Nigeria even visited Benue state.
However, before the Yelewata incident, the situation of those in Benue state and North central region of Nigeria has been of constant attacks, displacement, killings, kidnapping, rape, vandalization and constant fear. Before Yelewata there were coordinated attacks in several villages in Turan district in Kwande LGA, there were coordinated assaults in Mgbaigbe and Mbaitye communities and several people fleeing to Jato-aka. All these attacks resulted in several deaths and numerous injuries and displacements.
Kwande Local government area in Benue state is my ancestral home. My paternal grandmother is from Turan district. I know people from Jato-aka, it is a few kilometers from my village. Hence, this crisis in right at my door step and it is personal to me. Overall, out of the 23 local governments in Benue state, 18 have been affected by violent attacks from armed herdsmen resulting in a toll of 2,600 deaths according to Amnesty International. Communities across Benue state, including Gwer West, Gwer-East, Agatu, Apa, Ukum, Kwande, Logo,and Guma, continue to face a brutal pattern of violence. This is typically unleashed at night, although daytime attacks also occur, with gunmen systematically overrunning villages, using firearms to carry out indiscriminate or targeted killings from a distance. This is accompanied by brutal close-range violence with machetes and knives used to inflict grievous injuries, including hand amputations. People have written a lot about the causes and origins of this crisis. Many others are still reporting and writing about it. One issue is clear: that there is a deliberate attempt to displace people, grab land and replace the majority Christian middle belt with a Muslim identity. Hence why some people see it as a “Christian genocide”. If not, how do you explain the fact that when a community (mostly rural and Christian) is attacked, people flee into internally displaced persons (IDP) camps, and then another group of people (Fulanis-and Muslims) move into the town and rename the town. The issue has also been heavily politicized and politicians have failed to address the issue decisively due to self-interest. If not, why is it that the security agencies only show up after an attack. Also, since the beginning of the crisis there has been no single conviction by the courts. Rather we keep hearing that farmers should reconcile with the herder. How can you talk of reconciliation when a group of people have declared Jihad on you. This is why in his address to the US Congress on 12 March 2025, Bishop Chikpa Anagbe CMF of the diocese of Makurdi, Benue state, appealed to redesignate Nigeria as a country of particular concern.
Amidst all the above, there is the resultant effect of a serious and overwhelming humanitarian crisis in Benue state and in the middle belt at large. Many people have been displaced and many have fled from their homes for fear of being attacked. Many of these people live in IDP camps. Amesty International estimates that about 510,182 people have been internally displaced. These IDP camps are overcrowded, lack sanitation, are unhygienic and disease runs rampant. Essentials such as food, water and health care are lacking. Children and pregnant women are among the most vulnerable. Parishes have become IDP camps; they are one of the few places that people trust and can run to. Yet even at that some of these IDP camps have been attacked. I know priests and friends who are trying at their own personal level to respond to the humanitarian needs of the people as they also attend to the spiritual. Some bishops have had to pull out their priest from some parish because the people have all fled.
Pope Francis instructed that as pilgrims of hope in this year of hope, we are called to be tangible signs of hope for those of our brothers and sisters who experience hardships of any kind (cf. Spes non confundit, 10). There is an urgent humanitarian need in Benue and the North central region of Nigeria at large. Missionary groups and societies can consider what they can do for the church there. Benue state alone is 98% Christian, and there are 4 Catholic dioceses in Benue state with an estimated Catholic population of more than 2 million faithful.
The Benue church needs help especially with humanitarian and peace building efforts. Think of what your society, congregation, organization or group can do for the people in the IDP camps who constantly need health service, sanitation, food, and water. Think of what your advocacy can do through justice and peace missions in Benue state. Think of what your daily prayers can also do for the people of Benue. As pilgrims of hope, the crisis facing the church in Benue state and the middle belt at large urgently invites us to search our conscience and respond to the crisis. And to do so with God’s “style”: with closeness, compassion and tenderness, cultivating a personal relationship with our brothers and sisters in their specific situation (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 127-128).
Festus Vambe is a Pallottine novice in South Africa
