WWW.PERSECUTION.ORG
JANUARY 2016
PERSECU ION
Nigeria Hanging by a Thread
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INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN
“THEY CAME FROM DOWN THE HILL...” By Philip Sabella
A pastor and village leaders gather in a church destroyed by radicalized Fulani herders to hear about the attack for the first time.
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INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN
JANUARY 2016
T
he sound of singing is lifted by the wind across the top of the tall grass of Vatt in the Plateau state of North Central Nigeria. Close your eyes and you can almost see the owners of these voices, adorned in colorful robes, dancing around the church, singing praises to their Heavenly Father. You also hear the children as they play and the voices of their mothers chatting about their daily chores and the fathers discussing the growth of their crops. Now open your eyes and look around the town of Vat and you will see the destruction from the attacks of Islamists and you may wonder if those voices were merely echoes of the past. For many Christians living in Plateau State and around Nigeria’s central, Middle Belt region, daily life represents a struggle to survive. Since 2001, radical Muslim militias made up of members of Fulani tribesmen have been ravaging villages across the region with nearly a weekly frequency. A generations-old squabble over land between Muslim Fulani cattle herders and Christian farmers has become so violent toward Christians, so appalling in scale, and so sadistic in brutality that it has to be understood as nothing short of religious cleansing. The manner of war that the Fulani have waged against Christians across the Middle Belt is horrific, and the death toll massive. Villages are being burned, women and children are cut down in nighttime machete attacks. Those that escape the machete are often shot in the back as they sprint for the cover of the bush. In May 2015 alone, at least seven attacks across the Plateau and Benue states left 200 Christians murdered. Riyom and Barkin Ladi Local Government Areas in Plateau State represent some of the most intensely devastated areas. The majority-Christian Birom tribe, which predominates in Riyom and Barkin Ladi, has seen some of the worst persecution from the Fulani. Vatt village became one of these targets during the rampage in May. ICC staff visited Vatt in August. Vatt can only be reached by 4x4, about a two-hour drive outside Plateau’s capital city of Jos over treacherous dirt roads. The villagers make their living by growing both corn for food and grass for roof thatching and lived a relatively docile life next to a tribe of Fulani herdsman for some time. That all changed on the night of May 3, 2015. Over the course of a few days in early May, the Birom villagers noticed their Fulani neighbors began to pack up and leave the area for no apparent reason. They had never witnessed this before and they found it quite odd. They were unaware that this is usually the first sign that an attack is imminent. Then, on May 3, three men from the vil-
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lage were out tending to their crops as they always do. As they were walking through the tall grass, they stumbled upon a number of armed Fulani hiding in the shadows. They immediately turned around and ran as quickly as they could back to their village where they raised the warning alarm so that the women and children could flee to safety. A handful of the men decided to stay behind and defend their homes and land. Crops are the means of livelihood to the Birom, and if they lost the crops, they might starve before the next harvest. The only weapons these men had to protect themselves with were homemade rifles called “Den Guns,” which were the equivalent to .22 caliber rifles. That night, reportedly 200 to 300 Fulani carried out an attack. They invaded the village under the cover of darkness on horseback with murderous plans. They quickly filled the village like a fog and began to burn the houses and reign down terror on the people. The Birom houses were made of mud and clay with grass roofs and, once sent on fire, they literally became clay ovens with grass kindling. The heat was so intense that most of the windows began to bow and melt, but thankfully, most had evacuated the village to safety. The Fulani then set their sights on the church. In an effort to rid the land of Christian influence, during each attack, they strategically target the churches. After finding the village church, the militia began to burn the musical instruments and shot the glass pulpit several times. Once again, due to the construction materials, the church became like a furnace. Although not completely destroyed, the main wooden support beams of the church were severely damaged and unsafe. As for the men who stayed behind, they were no match for the Fulani with their AK-47s and other “sophisticated” weapons. At the end of the night, 15 Christian men lost their lives. During our August 2015 visit, ICC staffers met with the victims of the attack and prayed with them. Upon arriving in the village, our staffers were met with smiles and thankfulness. This village was truly pressed but not crushed, persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed. ICC staff was given a tour of the village where we witnessed the extreme damage that the Fulani inflicted. We saw the houses that were reduced to rubble and the church that was heavily damaged. We met with the families who lost loved ones and saw the fields that were cut down. After just a short time, it was evident some-
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thing needed to be done. Thanks to your partnership, ICC was able to immediately act and deliver much needed food aid to the villagers. When the Fulani attack, they often cut down the crops just before fruiting in order to disrupt the local economy and starve their victims. In response, ICC purchased and distributed over 8,000 pounds of corn to the villagers, which will sustain the 80 people until harvest time. We wouldn’t have been able to provide that without your help. As we were distributing the grain, a woman approached us and said, “Our village isn’t even located on the map of the globe, yet God has surprised us by sending people from far away America to come and visit us and help us in our difficulty. We are grateful.” As is always the case, one of the worst aspects of persecution is the feeling of loneliness and abandonment that soon follows. Every time we share with our brothers and sisters that Christians around the world see their struggles and are praying for them, their eyes are filled with hope and wonder and they thank God for His faithfulness. The sounds of singing soar on the waves of the wind in Vatt. The villagers gather together in their burnt out church, singing praise to our God and Father. Strengthened and encouraged, they worship knowing that their family in the West stands with them. Please remember to pray for Vatt village. As James 5:16 says, “The prayers of a righteous person are powerful and effective.”
Top Right
A Vat villager points to where the Fulani Islamists came from.
Opposite Page
Phillip* shares his compelling story of survival, loss and peace.
Bottom
The Fulani herders devastated Christian churches and homes, leaving the people of Vatt in great need.
“...God has surprised us by sending people from far away America to come and visit us and help us in our difficulty. We are grateful.”
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INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN
JANUARY 2016
AN IMPOSSIBLE CHOICE
NIGERIAN SON MAKES HEART-WRENCHING DECISION TO LEAVE HIS FATHER BEHIND IN ORDER TO SURVIVE It was 1:30 a.m. when the shouts of “Allahu Akhbar” rang through the darkness of a rural village in Borno state, Nigeria. Boko Haram militants, armed with AK-47s, stormed the village. The limited military presence was quickly driven away, and the attackers moved on and destroyed the Brethren (EYN) church before going house to house. As the militants made their way through the village, the townspeople fled in the darkness to the Mandara Mountains. Seven people were killed in the village before they could escape; for the rest, the fight for their lives was just beginning. Phillip* was one of nearly 5,000 who escaped the village into the mountains on November 4, 2014. For nearly four months, they would survive on the mountains before they were able to escape down the mountainside and into Cameroon. As we sat and talked with him, nearly one year after the attack, the wounds of the incident were still raw in his mind. Phillip recounted for us what it was like on the mountains. Food was scarce. They largely survived on beans that grew on top of the mountains. When the food supply ran too low, some of the women would sneak into the village and bring back food. Some of them never
made it back. “Even when you are on the mountain where you think you are safe, we will pursue you up the mountain,” Boko Haram sent in a message. Yet, even as they lived in fear of when the next attack would come, they still worshipped together, Phillip remembered. They lacked any formal church, but they elected a leader who would head up prayer services. The refuge on the mountain did not last. Boko Haram militants started shelling the mountain on one side, and had troops stationed on another. Christians were forced into caves to survive, but were without food or water. After four days, the people were beginning to starve. “Whatever happened, we had to take risks to survive,” Phillip said. The only thought of escape was to form small groups and to flee down the mountains under the cover of darkness past the militants and across the border into Cameroon. This was a journey that was going to be treacherous, and there was no way that the sick or elderly would be able to make it. Phillip then had to make the devastating choice to leave his father among those still on the mountain. “It is like a new dimension of life entirely to see your father experience that
kind of agony,” Phillip said. It is a pain that he lives with every day. It is a scar that will not go away, knowing that he lost his father on that mountaintop. In a group of 150, he was able to slip through the darkness and make it into the African bush and away to safety. This is the kind of persecution that haunts the dreams of the survivors. As life moves on for them, it is not without loss. The memory of saying goodbye to his father is one that he will have to live with forever.
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