Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin — by Elizabeth Kendal
Despite its location in the north-west region of northern Nigeria and also being one of 12 states ruled (unconstitutionally) by Sharia Law, Kaduna State actually straddles Nigeria’s ethnic-religious fault-line.
The north is predominantly Hausa-Fulani Muslim whilst the south is populated by numerous ethnic groups that are predominantly Christian.
Prayer and protest event
On Sunday August 2 the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Kaduna State held a prayer and protest event in response to the violence ravaging southern Kaduna — violence that is escalating despite a 24-hour curfew. The “Black Sunday” event was held at the ECWA (Evangelical Church Winning All) church in Narayi, a suburb on the south-eastern edge of Kaduna City.
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LATEST: 33 more killed on August 6,7
At least 33 people are thought to have died in attacks on five communities in the Atyap Chiefdom in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area (LGA), southern Kaduna State, on 5 and 6 August. The attacks occurred despite the existence of a 24-hour curfew. — Read more
Outside, the protesters displayed banners bearing messages such as “stop the killings in Southern Kaduna”, “CAN says no to continued killings”, “enough of the bloodshed”, “widows and orphans are increasing”, and more.
The CAN Chairman of Kaduna State chapter, the Reverend John Joseph Hayab, said this prayer event will continue every Sunday through the month of August.
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The following attacks all occurred in predominantly Christian local government reaas (LGAs) of southern Kaduna. On July9 at around 11.30pm, Fulani militants stormed two communities in Zangon-Kataf LGA. Upon hearing that an attack was imminent, primary school teacher James Enoch, 36 urged the women in his family to take the children and flee to a neighbouring community while he and other men went to the outskirts.
Unbeknown to Enoch, his family remained in the village, in the home of his cousin. Upon arrival, the militants went house to house attacking villagers in their beds, killing 24, wounding many others and setting homes on fire. Enoch lost seven members of his family that night: his wife, his stepmother, three of his siblings, his brother’s wife and her baby were all hacked or burnt to death.
Security agencies had been alerted, but to no avail. More than 1 000 people are currently residing at the Mercy internally displaced persons (IDPs) camp run by local church members in the nearby town of Zonkwa.
Camp coordinator, Reverend Gambo Waziri, reports having “about 15 pregnant women, 153 nursing mothers and victims who survived the carnage with bullet wounds, responding to treatments in some of the hospitals”.
On July 16 Fulani militants attacked several villages in Kachia LGA, killing four residents and abducting 32.
On July 17 Fulani militants murdered Ayuba Bulus on his farm in Kajuru LGA. Later that day, they looted and destroyed a property in the nearby Efele settlement, killing Gloria Shagari, 25 and her children Dorcas, 6 and Faith, 3, as well as Ayuba Bulus, 40 and Hussaini Daudu. 40. Another victim, Baptist church leader Reverend Thomas Gambo, remains in hospital in a critical condition.
On Sunday July 19 at around 10.30pm, Fulani militants armed with guns and machetes attacked a wedding reception at a home in Kaura LGA, killing 18 and wounding 31. This was only one of several attacks in Kaura LGA that night.
On July 20 at around 7pm, nine people were killed and an unknown number wounded when Fulani militants attacked another village in Zangon-Kataf LGA.
On July 24 at around 7pm, 10 people were killed when Fulani militants attacked Zikpak town in Jema’a LGA. The dead include ECWA pastor, the Rev Shamah Kuyet Ishaya, Daniel Bala, 49 who was walking home from church choir practice, and a five-year-old boy named Joel Cephas.
On July 23 hundreds of Atyap women [the Atyap being the indigenous people of the Zangon-Kataf, Kaura and Jema’a LGAs] demonstrated at Atak Njei Agwam Atyap palace [the palace of the traditional ruler of Atyap people] in Zangon-Kataf to express their sorrow and anger over the massacres.
The women describe their communities as being “under siege by herdsmen” and wonder why the government is not doing anything to protect them.
‘Slaughtered like rams’
“Our husbands, children and relations are being slaughtered like rams on a daily basis, and this government is just watching. Our lives don’t matter to this government. We can’t go to our farms, we can’t go to the markets, and we are not safe even in our homes. So where do we run?'”
The women lamented that they have become refugees in their own land, saying many of the villagers were moving to IDP camps for their own safety.
PLEASE PRAY:
Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord! Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children … — Lamentations 2:19 ESV
PLEASE PRAY THAT OUR ALMIGHTY GOD WILL
- counsel, comfort and sustain Nigeria’s suffering Church, particularly those who are this day grieving the loss of loved ones, nursing physical and psychological wounds, lamenting loss of security and struggling between doubt and faith, despair and hope. Lord, have mercy.
- intervene in Nigeria and especially at this time in Kaduna where insecurity and violence are particularly severe; may a revived Church keep trusting her God; and may the Lord establish justice, righteousness and peace in the land, and empower those who would “turn back the battle at the gate” –Isaiah 28:5-6 ESV.
- bless and protect all who risk much to share the Gospel with Hausa-Fulani Muslims as the Lord Jesus Christ continues to build his Church in Nigeria’s volatile north and Middle Belt.
