Fulani herdsmen on Sunday (Sept. 29) ambushed and killed two Christians in Kaduna state, Nigeria, area residents said.
Brothers Raymond Timothy and James Timothy were shot to death as they went to check crops on their farm in Bakin Kogi, a predominantly Christian community in Kauru County.
“The two brothers had gone to their farm to check on their crops in view of destruction of farms belonging to Christians in our area by herdsmen, and they were shot and killed by the herdsmen,” Gospel Bishara Garba told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News in a text message.
Community leader Timothy Yusuf identified the assailants as Fulani militias.
“We have reported the killing of the two Christians to local authorities of Kauru Local Government Area, who have also filed a report with police authorities in Kaduna state,” Yusuf said.
James Timothy was a student of Christian Religious Studies at the Kaduna State College of Education, Gidan Waya town, in southern Kaduna.
Sen. Sunday Marshall Katung, a member of the National Assembly representing Kaduna South Senatorial District, said Raymond Timothy left behind a pregnant wife and three children.
“I received an alarming report about the gruesome killing of Raymond Timothy and his younger brother, James Timothy,” Katung said in a press statement. “I am saddened and appalled by this barbarity, which I condemn in its entirety. The government’s primary responsibility is the security and welfare of its people; consequently, I wish to once again call on the government of Kaduna state to thoroughly investigate and address these recurrent security challenges in our state, especially in Kauru Local Government, to ensure that our citizens are well protected.”
Mansir Hassan, spokesman for Kaduna State Police Command, said police were investigating.
Nasarawa Killings
In Nasarawa Eggon town of Nasarawa state, suspected Fulani herdsmen on Sept. 24 intruded into the home of Catholic teacher Okey Ezike and shot him dead, area residents said.
“It was an unforgettable tragedy on the night of Tuesday, 24 September, 2024, as a Catechist with St. Augustine Catholic Church, Nasarawa Eggon town was killed in his house by bandits,” resident Esson Gale said in a message to Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “We his neighbors are still living in trepidation as a result of what happened that night. The bandits, who we believe are Fulani herdsmen, shot sporadically into the air before forcing their way into his house and killing him.”
Usman Honest, another area resident, said Ezike was the owner of Nakowa Pharmacy. Resident Jones Darah said Ezike had helped Christians to obtain medicines that they otherwise could not afford.
“Who will help Christians with free drugs and free treatment as Ezike has been doing?” Darah said in a text message. “Catechist Ezike, God bless your soul for your community service to Christians, and may you find rest in the kingdom of God.”
In the town of Keffi in Nasarawa state, suspected herdsmen on July 4 had kidnapped a Robert Kever, a Christian lecturer at the University of Maiduguri in northeast Nigeria. He was kidnapped from his home in Angwan Jama’ah, Keffi town, and remains in captivity, said area resident Joseph Audu.”
In May, a Christian retired public worker and union leader, Daniel Umaru Lagi, was killed also in Wamba County, Nasarawa state, his son Tigga Kefas said.
Lagi was kidnapped on May 28 form his house in Wamba town and killed in captivity a week later, Kefas said.
“It’s so painful to note that we now live in great fear as there are strange Fulani herdsmen in our own communities,” Kefas said in a text message. “We have become helpless as our communities have now become a den of armed herdsmen who kidnap and kill our people at will. We pray for God’s protection as we pass through this painful experience.”
Ranham Nansel, a spokesman for the Nasarawa State Police Command, told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News that “a number of cases of kidnappings and killings have occurred in Nasarawa state, but the police and other sister security agencies are putting in efforts in order to nip the issue in the bud.”
Numbering in the millions across Nigeria and the Sahel, predominantly Muslim Fulani comprise hundreds of clans of many different lineages who do not hold extremist views, but some Fulani do adhere to radical Islamist ideology, the United Kingdom’s All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom or Belief (APPG) noted in a 2020 report.
“They adopt a comparable strategy to Boko Haram and ISWAP and demonstrate a clear intent to target Christians and potent symbols of Christian identity,” the APPG report states.
Christian leaders in Nigeria have said they believe herdsmen attacks on Christian communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt are inspired by their desire to forcefully take over Christians’ lands and impose Islam as desertification has made it difficult for them to sustain their herds.
Nigeria remained the deadliest place in the world to follow Christ, with 4,118 people killed for their faith from Oct. 1, 2022 to Sept. 30, 2023, according to Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List (WWL) report. More kidnappings of Christians than in any other country also took place in Nigeria, with 3,300.
Nigeria was also the third highest country in number of attacks on churches and other Christian buildings such as hospitals, schools, and cemeteries, with 750, according to the report.
In the 2024 WWL of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, Nigeria was ranked No. 6, as it was in the previous year.
