An article by Sahara Reporters on 9 September reports that 19 people were
killed and five injured in Ancha, Plateau State. Police authorities have stated that they believe the attack was by Fulani herdsmen as revenge for the killing of a Fulani boy in the village. A report of the same incident by Christianity Today on 12 September 2017 indicates that the total number of fatalities in Ancha was twenty: 19 belonged to a Baptist church and one belonged to a Methodist church in the
village.
In a separate incident, Boko Haram militants
killed 19 people in the city of Banki in the northeastern state of Borno. In another incident, Boko Haram militants have
killed eight people in three different villages around the city of Maiduguri, the capital city of Borno State. During the raids, young men were particularly targeted and many homes were burned down.
Yonas Dembele, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, comments: "These incidents show that the violence perpetrated against civilians by Boko Haram has continued and is in fact rising despite the government"s claim that it has defeated Boko Haram. The incidents also show that the violence of the Hausa-Fulani Muslim herdsmen has not been addressed and still persists. According to the human rights group Amnesty International reporting on 5 September 2017, the number of people killed by Boko Haram over the past five months has
doubled and the death-toll could be as high as 381 civilians in Nigeria and Cameroon since April 2017."
Yonas Dembele continues: "Reuters also noted a significant rise in the level of
violence and, according to its own tally, reports that 172 civilians have been killed in northeastern Nigeria since last June 2017. The escalating violence and the utter failure of Nigerian government forces to ensure the security of its citizens is disheartening. Given the ideology and religious motivation of those responsible for the attacks, Christians are likely to bear disproportionately the brunt of such raids. The rise in violence also seems to necessitate a reconsideration of the way in which the government of Nigeria and the international community have so far been responding to the situation. Particularly the attacks by the Hausi-Fulani Muslim herdsmen who regularly target Christians (see recent
WWR and
World Watch Monitor reports) have been devastating and are a huge existential threat for Christian communities in the Middle Belt area. Therefore, the Nigerian government should take the matter much more seriously and take immediate action to‚ bring to an end the violence of the Fulani herdsmen and ensure the safety of Christians in the Middle Belt region."
