‘We Will die in The House of The Lord:’ St. Peter’s Parishioners
By Mike Odeh James and Olikita Ekani
(Makurdi) Rev. Fr Jacob Ankaau, 35, follows the winding track through dense meadows of savanna grasses where waterbuck and buffaloes were hunted by lions 70 years ago. Today the muggy humid air is unseemly quiet. The only predators left carry AK-47 assault rifles and their eyes likely are tracking his white Toyota pickup back to a hub of villages called Ayati, once 35,000 souls strong, but today as silent as a graveyard.
His heart is heavy with sad thoughts for 72 victims of a nightmare raid 20 days ago that saw his congregation massacred and some of their bodies stuffed into local wells. And he’s thinking about Dad, whose corpse was found almost exactly one year prior to the massacre, at the end of a kidnapping-for-ransom that had the most feared ending: murder of the hostage. Dad was loved as a hero to the Roman Catholic community, respected as farmer and father of a son who answered his “vocation,” the call to serve God in a specific way of life. Dad was killed because Fr Jacob refused to solicit and pay the $32,000 ransom demanded by the kidnappers, reasoning that bowing to that demand would have put every priest with a family at greater risk.
TruthNigeria reported a death count of 50 or more, but in following days more bodies were recovered, among them the lame, elderly, pregnant women and small children.
Passengers in the truck include a surviving Ayati pastor, Rev. Shimo Terlumun of Universal Reformed Christian Church (known as NKST) and the TruthNigeria Reporter.
“As I prepare to return to Ayati, my heart bleeds for the thousands of innocent souls forced to flee their homes,” Fr. Jacob told Truthnigeria.
“I must go back to motivate and inspire the residents to return to their settlements, or else they risk starvation and further suffering. The thought of over 30,000 people, including women and children, languishing in the bush without shelter or food is unbearable.”
This once-thriving community, Ayati, located 471 km (292 miles) Southeast of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria, is now an ungoverned space, a no-man’s land where the mere mention of its name sends shivers down the spine, where even the bravest of souls dare not enter.
Equipping the Persecuted, an American NGO dedicated to saving lives of persecuted Nigerian Christians, made an emergency intervention in Ayati in the second week of August, handing out critical food relief in the Borikyo ward and distributing essential items such as soaps, mosquito nets and detergents. Those in desperate need got free medical treatment, according to ETP founder Judd Saul in Sioux City, Iowa.
Survivors Emerge from the Forest
As he navigated his pickup from the city of Katsina Ala to the town of Ayati in Ukum County, Benue State, the eerie silence was palpable. The once-bustling road was a haunting stretch of abandoned farmsteads, overgrown vegetation, and deserted barns. The nearest military checkpoint, 10 kilometers away from Ayati, was of no help during the massacre on August 8.
But for traumatized villagers still in the area, Fr. Jacob’s white pickup was welcomed as a beacon of hope. As the pickup approached, many who had fled to temporary shelters in the forest begin to emerge. Their faces etched with fear, their eyes sunken in despair, they cautiously approached the priest, seeking solace in their presence.
The chants of “Rev. Father” and “Father” in Tiv dialect rent the air as the priest, the pastor and two TruthNigeria reporters passed by. As survivors appeared on the dirt road, Father Jacob and Rev. Terlumun stopped to pray with them while offering words of encouragement.
As the two clergy and their entourage stepped into the desolate Ayati settlement, they were met with just five remaining residents: two women and three children.
The eerie landscape of Ayati, a rural market hub surrounded by 30 villages, was dotted with empty houses, abandoned kiosks, and shattered glass of churches and homes. Some 50 worship houses in the area had been abandoned after relentless attacks by jihadist militia over a period of weeks, according to eye witnesses who spoke to TruthNigeria. Government authorities demand that ethnicity not be mentioned in crime reports, yet all witnesses said the attackers were speaking the language of the Fulani tribe, one of Nigeria’s largest and most influential.
Rev. Terlumun of the church known as NKST spoke in a voice cracked with emotion as he recounted the horrors his community had endured.
“Our people have been forced to flee their homes, leaving behind everything they’ve ever known. The recent attacks on July 2 and August 8, 2024, have left our community in ruins. More than 50 churches, including our beloved NKST, lie in ruins,” Terlumun said.
NKST Pastor Explains His Return
His eyes welling up with tears, Terlumun continued, “Our faithful are too afraid to return, and I don’t blame them. But as their spiritual leader, I cannot abandon them in their darkest hour. I have returned to Ayati to reopen the church and offer what little shelter I can to those who have lost everything,” Terlumun said.
The weight of his words hung in the air, a poignant plea for help and support in the face of unimaginable suffering. The people of Ayati, once a thriving community, are now teetered on the brink of extinction, their lives forever scarred by the bandit-terrorist attacks.
“This St. Peter Parish, where we used to gather so many worshippers,” Father Jacob said of the handsome stone church of St. Peter’s. “People used to gather here in numbers,” he said. “But as you can see, there is no single worshipper here. I don’t have people to celebrate Mass because of the insecurity.”
His eyes welled up with tears as he gestured to the chapel. “This is the Chapel of Perpetual Adoration where we pray before Christ in His sacrament. However, worshippers have all gone,” he said.
“At the height of the Fulani killings, the worshippers gathered here, put their mattresses and mosquito nets here, and they said to me, ‘Father, instead of dying at the hands of pagans and bandits, we shall die in the church.'”
Motivated To Return By Father’s Death
Ankaau’s determination to return to Ayati was fueled by the kidnapping and tragic death of his 67-year-old father, Sir Simon Peter Ngyupila Ankauu, at the hands of Fulani kidnappers. In an interview with TruthNigeria, Fr. Jacob recalled that his father, a Knight of Saint Murumba who built a school to develop youths, was subjected to inhuman treatment and eventually died in captivity.
The kidnappers demanded N25 million in ransom, but Fr. Jacob believed that giving in would have put every priest with a family at risk. His father’s lifeless body was later recovered by the Joint Task Force (JTF) led by CSP Justin Gberindyer of the Benue State command on August 10, 2023, and buried in his village, Tse-Tyungu, Mbawar, Torov in Ukum County, Benue State.
Father Jacob told TruthNigeria his calling is to reopen the church and to restore a haven for worship – come what may. He’s determined to bring hope to a community ravaged by fear. Reasonable people left town three weeks ago.
The 17th Century French philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote the epitaph for such courage: “The heart has its reasons, of which reason knows not.”
Mike Odeh James and Olikita Ekani are conflict reporters for TruthNigeria.
