Christians Targeted for Kidnapping by Fulani Ethnic Militia: Cleric
By Masara Kim
[Jos] As mainstream media slam comic Tony Hinchcliffe for impugning Puerto Rico, citizens in Nigeria’s Katsina State are running from a label that has spelled death for thousands: “Christian.”
Christians in this dry and dusty northern state are running for safety after an attack killed a civilian guard on October 27. It was the third in one week in the gold-rich State of Katsina, where terror attacks have claimed at least four victims, including two police officers and left more than 40 people in terrorists’ captivity.
The attacks are part of an ongoing campaign by kidnap-for-ransom terrorists seizing territory across the northwestern region, despite the nation’s swelling defense budgets.
The attacks targeting Christians and ethnic minorities have been ignored by both the Nigerian and U.S. authorities under President Joe Biden, prompting lawmakers and Christian leaders to call for a Trump resurgence.
Trump made his mark as an advocate for persecuted Nigerian Christians during his first term. During a press conference at the White House in April 2018, Mr. Trump stirred controversy when he bluntly asked Nigeria’s then President Muhammadu Buhari: “Why are you killing Christians in Nigeria?”
Two years later, Trump’s State Department designated Nigeria a country of particular concern for religious freedom violations, which could have triggered sanctions. But the Biden administration dropped the label in November 2021, without explanation, which sparked widespread criticisms by religious freedom advocates around the world. After three years, attacks have swelled by 200 percent according to various reports by the genocide-tracking nonprofit intersociety, yet hardly acknowledged outside Africa.
‘Outgunned and outnumbered’
Just as Hinchcliffe geared up to invoke mental cruelty at Madison Square Garden, terrorists delivered concrete cruelty in Katsina, Nigeria. Dantani Magaji, 45, knowing he was the only hope for the 1,000 residents of the village of Bango, threw his life on the line to save 30 kidnapped victims. He succeeded, but only by making the ultimate sacrifice.
The town, part of a network of villages known as Kanawa, lies encircled by a river and is a mere 76 miles from the ominous Kwiambana game reserve, where terrorist-bandits pitch their tents. Magaji knew his friends and relatives were vulnerable.
The vast forest, spanning the borders of Kaduna and Zamfara States, has been a hideout for terrorists unleashing waves of violence upon Bango and its neighboring communities for months, TruthNigeria has learned.
Police authorities are not responding to queries from reporters. But TruthNigeria learned the October 27 attack was the third in the area within one week and has forced hundreds of residents to flee to safer areas.
At 11 pm on October 27, the sky was dark, with a waning crescent moon not expected until 2 a.m. Residents of Bango who had become weary of relentless attacks that have claimed the lives of dozens and left many captive in forests, had retreated to the safety of their homes, leaving only Magaji and hiss brave team of 15 men to stand watch.
Five team members huddled around a fire to warm up after the temperature plummeted from a scorching 118 degrees Fahrenheit in the afternoon to a chilly 68 degrees Fahrenheit by 11:30 pm, the coldest it gets in the sparse woodland area, a sudden, loud rattle of gunfire shattered the night air.
“The shooting was so intense we had to run for cover,” Zanaidu Audu, a member of the defense team told TruthNigeria.
“They came in from the southern part of the town with heavy shooting,” Audu said.
“One of our colleagues who went to fetch water in that direction sighted them as they approached, but before he could alert us, they started shooting,” Audu said in a telephone interview.
“I took cover behind a building with some colleagues and from there I could hear them breaking into homes and dragging women and children out,” Audu said.
“We were able to return fire occasionally, but we were outgunned and outnumbered,” he said, recalling the terrorists stormed the town on around ten motorcycles — three to a bike. The odds were two to one, and the invaders had rapid-firing assault rifles.
‘Terrorist’s blood’
Despite the odds, Magaji who took cover behind a mosque and managed to return fire. As the attackers took cover, the 30 women and children who had been snatched from their homes saw their chance to run, and rushed out of the brush, Audu said.
“He was the bravest among us,” Audu said. “When he saw them dragging those women and children, he stood firm in his hideout and sustained fire on them and even killed one of them,” Audu said.
“The following morning we saw their blood stains up to the edge of the river where they headed as they retreated,” Audu said.
30 hostages escape
“When they saw that he had killed one of the mercenaries, they focused attention on him, and in the process, all 30-something abductees escaped except a 10year-old girl who happens to be my baby sister,” Audu tearfully said, adding the hostage was taken after the terrorists overwhelmed Magaji.
“They shot him in the hip and chest and thereafter battered him with machetes,” he said, noting soldiers arrived two hours late from their base 6 miles away and failed to go after the terrorists, whose gunshots were still audible as they made their way back to the woods.
‘Our farms and livelihoods taken’
TruthNigeria’s text message to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Sadiq Hidima, the spokesman for the Nigerian Police in Katsina was not answered.
“If not for [Dantani], they could have escaped with more people and done more damage,” Audu said. “From my hideout I heard them say to one another ‘let’s go, let’s go! These people are armed’,” he said. According to him, the attackers spoke the Fulani dialect.
Who are the Fulani?
Fulani are a large ethnic group found across West Africa, claiming more than 9 million members in Nigeria. Fulani Nigerians occupy key political positions in the federal security agencies and the bureaucracy. Terrorists who speak the Fulfulde language of the Fulani have been implicated in thousands of genocidal massacres. The last four years alone saw the Fulani playing a key role in the massacre of more than 55,000 Christians in Nigeria according to the Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA).
In Katsina, Fulani attacks have equally targeted Muslim non-members, but Christians are the primary targets, according to Magaji Tambai, a Seminary official in Bango.
“When they first started, Christians were the sole targets,” Tambai told TruthNigeria.
“With time, they started attacking Muslims who are not of their Fulani tribe,” Tambai said. “But anytime they catch a Christian – even if he or she is Fulani – the treatment is always different,” Tambai said.
“If they don’t kill, they will kidnap and not release even after ransom is paid,” said Tambai, the Director of a Discipleship Training School funded by Calvary Ministries CAPRO in Bango.
“Even when they release Christian hostages, they often die or become incapacitated due to injuries from tortures,” Tambai said, revealing the attacks have threatened to eliminate the minority Christian population in the region.
“Already, our population in the whole of Bango has dwindled to around 20,” Tambai said. “With the latest wave of attacks, many of us have fled,” Tambai said, noting his mission has closed down due to the attacks.
Within the week prior to the October 27 attack in Bango, Tambai and his wife narrowly survived an attack on the mission. At least one person was killed on the evening attack of October 21, and more than 40 residents kidnapped, according to Tambai.
Another attack the following day [October 22] just 32 miles away in the Kankara county killed six people including four Policemen.
Residents were still to recover from the two incidents with more than half of the Bango kidnap victims still in captivity when a renewed attack was launched on October 27.
“Even as we speak, I am in hiding. My wife and children are all taking refuge in different places,” Tambai said, noting he’s not sure he will survive.
“All our farms and livelihoods have been taken away,” he said.
Masara Kim is a prize-winning conflict reporter and senior editor in Jos for TruthNigeria.
