Dozens Still in Captivity after Christmas Day Attack in Nigerian State: Catholic Priest

Fulani herdsmen and other unidentified bandits are said to have also staged attacks on Mallagum and Kagoro villages in Kaduna State some days before Christmas Day 2022, during which 40 Christians were reportedly killed in Mallagum village; three Christians lost their lives during the attack on Kagoro village on December 23.   

Confirming the attacks on the two Nigerian villages, Fr. Dyikuk told ACI Africa, “Eyewitness on the ground confirmed to me that on Sunday, 18th December, 2022 not fewer than 40 people were killed; many were injured, over 102 houses and harvested grains were burnt down, and many were displaced in Mallagum 1 and Sakong communities, in the Southern Kaduna area of Nigeria.”

“The terrorists had sophisticated weapons,” the Nigerian Catholic Priest added during the January 10 interview with ACI Africa.

He went on to highlight some of the reasons for the recurrent attacks in what is Africa’s most populous nation.  

“Locals suspect that they were attacked because of 3 reasons: They are Christians comprising Catholics, Evangelicals and Baptists; because the assailants want to decapitate the region economically, and to scare the people of Southern Kaduna ahead of the 2023 general elections,” Fr. Dyikuk said.

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Nigeria has been experiencing insecurity since 2009, which started when Boko Haram insurgency emerged with the aim of turning the West African country into an Islamic state.

Since then, the group, one of largest Islamist groups in Africa, has been orchestrating indiscriminate terrorist attacks on various targets, including religious and political groups as well as civilians.

The insecurity situation has further been complicated by the involvement of the predominantly Muslim Fulani herdsmen, also referred to as the Fulani Militia, who have been clashing frequently with Christian farmers.

At a December 22 interdenominational memorial service for the 40 people killed in Mallagum, mourners were encouraged to take defensive measures against a years-long spate of terrorism and violence in the largely Christian farming communities of northern and central Nigeria.

Fr. Benjamin Bala is said to have exhorted Nigerians to “be ready in ... 'Holy anger,' to respond to the natural sense for self-preservation which is also both divine and constitutional.”

“This requires us to do all within the law and our faith to and protect our lives. In Genesis 9:5, God says he will demand an account of every life; beast and man from us,” the Catholic Priest has been quoted as saying in a December 27 report by The Pillar.

He added, “These are indeed trying times for us. We cannot afford to be asleep. We must keep awake. We must not allow ourselves to give in to the antics of our attackers. Let us not allow them to push us into doing things that are unlawful and acting against our Christian faith. Our faith teaches us to constantly pray and watch.”

In the January 10 interview with ACI Africa, Fr. Dyikuk said in reference to the security challenge  in Nigeria, “It is not clear if the government can solve the problem because there is lack of political will to do so.”

“The security agencies can deal with the problem but they have to be given command from the top,” he told ACI Africa.

He continued, “The ethnic cleansing happening in Southern Kaduna can be tamed if the problem is named for what it is and all stakeholders, government, traditional rulers, politicians, religious leaders, women and youth leaders cooperate to provide intelligence to security operatives.”

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“The situation is difficult because the terrorists operate a guerilla tactics of hit and run. So, the security (agents) find themselves fighting a pseudo-enemy,” the Convener of the Media Team Network Initiative (MTNI) told ACI Africa January 10.

He added, “Sincerity of purpose, commitment in terms of patriotism to nation first and not pandering to religious and ethnic cleavages would bring the insecurity in Southern Kaduna and by extension Nigeria to an end.”

Jude Atemanke is a Cameroonian journalist with a passion for Catholic Church communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Buea in Cameroon. Currently, Jude serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.