Farmers Left at Mercy of Rampaging Gunmen: Amnesty International
By Masara Kim and Lawrence Zongo
(Jos) A wave of terror attacks near Nigeria’s Jos, the capital of Plateau State and a historic center of Christian missionary work in Nigeria, has prompted calls for communities to take self-defense measures.
Governor Caleb Mutfwang recently urged residents to form self-defense groups to protect themselves from terrorists aiming to displace and seize control of farming villages. This comes in the wake of bloody attacks that resulted in the deaths of at least 15 civilians between March 23-29, all occurring under the watch of the Nigerian military.
Amnesty International has condemned the violence and accused local authorities of leaving communities “at the mercy of rampaging gunmen.”
“We must be courageous to confront these evil people,” said Governor Caleb Mutfwang, who is himself a Christian attorney and politician. “They can never defeat us,” Mutfwang declared on March 29.
“Young people, this is your time,” Mutfwang said. “You are the ones to defend this land,” said the Governor. “Protect the elderly, male and female, as well as children,” Mutfwang charged when he visited Fofwere, a Christian community 45 miles south of Jos following a terrorists attack that killed 11 residents on March 27.
As he made the declaration at noon on March 29, Christian residents were burying another victim of a similar attack just hours prior some 70 miles away in Bassa County west of Jos. At least four other Christians were killed in sporadic attacks in Bassa County between March 23-24th, TruthNigeria learned.
Who are the killers?
The attacks in Plateau State have been credited to terrorists identifying as Fulani, a large ethnic group with more than 20 million members in West and Central Africa. The group claims around 10 million members in Nigeria. Many Fulani members are engaged in peaceful ventures like trade, education and politics. However, a jihadist faction has reportedly killed six times more Christians than Boko Haram according to the Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust, a UK based monitoring group.
Last year alone, Fulani terrorists killed more than 5,000 Christians across Nigeria, according to Intersociety, an international nonprofit monitoring genocide around the world.
Equipping the Persecuted Intervenes
The ongoing attacks in late March 2025 concentrating in the green Middle Belt region have forced tens of thousands of Christian villagers to flee their homes and crowd into makeshift camps for internally displaced persons with little water and sanitation facilities. TruthNigeria investigations reveal that thousands of victims of Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM) have been abandoned by both the Nigerian authorities and so-called nonprofits advocating for them locally and internationally.
In recent times, Equipping the Persecuted Initiative, an Iowa-based nonprofit has remained an only hope for thousands of survivors, providing them with food, shelter, clothing and medical subsidies. The organization has equally provided training and combat kits to village defenders to resist terror attacks, and recently has donated state-of-the art facilities to enable the Nigerian Civil Defense Corps to effectively monitor and respond to threats in the outskirts of the capital city of Abuja.
Motivation for attacks
Governor Caleb Mutfwang has insisted the attacks in Plateau State are aimed at land grabbing and ethnic displacements and urged citizens to take their destinies into their own hands.
“I want you to know that it is God who placed us in this land. Not any man. God who placed us in this land has not forgotten us. And I look around, and I see churches everywhere, and it tells me you’re believers in Christ. Those who think they can intimidate us till we pack our things and leave the land for them will be put to shame,” Mutfwang declared.
“We don’t pray for any bad to happen, but we must always be on guard, we must always be prepared,” said the Governor, a proud Christian believer.
“The times we’re in are hard. We must look out for one another. No more shall we go to the farms unaccompanied. We must organize joint efforts. Some are farming and some are watching. Whether at ceremonies or funerals, we must split into groups. One group must be watching,” he said at Fofwere village on March 29.
‘Soldiers Ignore Cries for Help’
At least 11 people were killed after terrorists invaded Fofwere, part of a group of villages known as Ruwi, located in the Bokkos county on March 27th. The evening attack at minutes after 9pm local time targeted a wake for an elderly woman who died from natural causes two days prior.
Witnesses reported a group of armed terrorists speaking the Fulani dialect stormed a compound of four brick buildings where the mourners were gathered, killing 11 people.
The sky was partially dark after sunset on March 27th in the remote village of Fofwere with the moon just 5% full, which puts it in the waning crescent phase. Mr. Gaius Pusen, was leading a team of five volunteers to keep watch on the eastern edge of the village. Suddenly at minutes after 9 o’clock, they detected strange movements.
“We sensed movements in the woods just a few feet away, and one of my members shot a slingshot in the direction, and the next thing we heard were automatic rifle fire,” Pusen told TruthNigeria.
“All we had were the slingshots and sticks, and we had no choice but to run,” Pusen said.
From two miles away, his commander, Mr. Newyear Arandong heard the gunshots and mobilized a team of three volunteers armed with homemade pipe guns to respond but was confronted by part of the invading force manning the approach to the town. But soldiers of operation safe haven, a special military task force located just 500 meters away failed to intervene, according to town leaders.
“We exchanged fire for several minutes until others attacking the town joined them and they headed north, disappearing into the surrounding mountains,” Arandong told TruthNigeria.
“When soldiers arrived around 30 minutes later, we showed them the direction they attackers went, but they didn’t go outside the village,” Arandong said.
TruthNigeria’s query by text message to Major Samson Zhakom, the spokesman for the military in Plateau State was not answered.
Pregnant woman, husband among victims
The evening assault followed just weeks after rumors circulated about a planned attack during the ongoing Lent season,” wrote tribal lawyer Farmasum Fuddang.
“Reports indicated that terrorists claiming to fight for “Islam” intended to exploit this sacred month to carry out jihad on Plateau and surrounding regions for land grabbing purposes,” Fuddang wrote in a statement.
“Unfortunately, the safety of vulnerable communities was left to unarmed civilian watchers, who were unable to repel the invasion of Ruwi by heavily-armed terrorists,” wrote Fuddang, Chairman of Bokkos Cultural Development Council.
“The attack was successfully carried out without any obstruction or arrest, despite the fact that soldiers from Operation Safe Haven are located just 500 meters away. They failed to respond to the sound of gunfire and the desperate cries for help from defenseless women and children,” Fuddang wrote.
“Ultimately, 11 innocent lives were lost, and at least three others were severely injured,” wrote Fuddang, an attorney and human-rights activist.
Among the deceased victims were a pregnant woman who was killed along with her husband and his brother in the same room, TruthNigeria learned. In another room within the same compound, a ten-year-old girl was killed along with seven others, while another young man was killed in the outskirts of the town as he attempted to escape.
“I am deeply pained by this attack,” said Gov. Mutfwang during a visit to Fofwere on March 29. “We are on the trail of those who perpetrated this act, by God’s grace, together with the security agents,” Mutfwang said.
In another town 70 miles away in Bassa County, residents mourned the murder of four people by Fulani-speaking terrorists between March 23-29. The latest attack in Bassa targeted two people traveling on motorcycle near the northwestern border of Plateau State with Kaduna State, TruthNigeria learned.
The ambush attack in the village of Kamaru on the morning of March 29, followed a series of related ambushes that had killed four people in Bassa within the previous five days, TruthNigeria learned.
‘At the mercy of rampaging gunmen’
The latest attacks in Plateau State have drawn wide condemnations including from Amnesty International which has accused the Nigerian authorities of not doing enough to protect citizens.
“Nigerian authorities’ failure to stem the tide of this violence is costing people’s lives and livelihoods,” wrote Amnesty International on the latest violence attributed to Fulani militants.
“Patterns of recent deadly attacks on the rural areas of Plateau state, clearly show the Nigerian authorities have left these communities at the mercy of rampaging gunmen,” wrote Amnesty International in a post on x.
Masara Kim is an award-winning conflict reporter in Jos and senior editor at TruthNigeria. Lawrence Zongo is a conflict reporter for TruthNigeria.
