In 10 Years More Than 150 Towns Have Been Sacked
By Steven Kefas
(Jos) The sun had barely kissed the hills of Bangai when 32-year-old Kangyang Benjamin kissed her husband goodbye on that fateful Tuesday morning of May 20. With her eight-month-old baby, Dalo, strapped securely to her back, she climbed onto the motorcycle that would take her to Riyom town for an employment screening.
It was a journey of hope for her family of seven, her husband, Benjamin Badung, told TruthNigeria.
Less than 30 minutes after she left their modest home perched on the hills of this farming community, Benjamin Badung’s phone rang with news that would shatter his world forever.
Terror on the Bangai-Riyom Road
The narrow, pothole-riddled road between Bangai and Riyom had become a death trap. Armed Fulani ethnic militia had laid an ambush just three miles from the community. When Kangyang’s motorcycle approached, “armed Fulani terrorists ambushed them, opening gunfire. After shooting, we saw them hacking the victims,” an anonymous source told the Berom Youth Moulders Association.
This gruesome murder was not an isolated tragedy but a stark illustration of ethnic cleansing attacks by radicalized Fulani ethnic militia who have been driving Christian tribes from their inherited tribal lands in Plateau state for more than 10 years.
Plateau farmers currently face escalating dangers during the rainy season, when the need to cultivate crops draws vulnerable communities into the open. Women, in particular, bear the brunt of this violence, their roles as caregivers and farmers placing them in the crosshairs of Fulani militant attacks. The Berom Youths Moulder-Association (BYM), a sociocultural group for the Berom ethnic group has sounded an urgent alarm, with Secretary General Bature Iliya Adazaram declaring, “The dislodgement of all Fulani who grabbed over 151 lands in Plateau State is critical, otherwise law-abiding citizens and residents will know no peace.” The BYM’s plea underscores a grim reality: the land, once a source of life, has become a battleground soaked in blood.
Kangyang, was struck by bullets and slashed repeatedly but clung to life long enough to reach Riyom General Hospital, where she succumbed to her wounds. according to her husband. Her baby, Dalo, miraculously survived but sustained injuries, as did Mrs. Mary Monday, 52, and Mrs. Regina Monday, 50, also caught in the attack.
The attackers fled toward Shonong/Rankum, stealing a motorcycle belonging to Mr. Habila Danladi, who narrowly escaped the slaughter.
“Mrs. Benjamin obviously died because of her baby,” Moses, an eyewitness, told TruthNigeria with trembling voice. “She couldn’t run and leave her baby. Other women ran and survived. As Kanyang ran from the motorcycle, she tripped and fell to her knees as machete blades cut into her neck and shoulders, and one blow sliced a small flesh wound on her eight-month-old infant, but even as she fell, she covered her baby as best she could,” according to Moses.
A Mother’s Desperate Fight
“Each time the attackers’ blades found their mark, each time she stumbled and fell, she instinctively covered little Dalo with her body. Blood flowed from her wounds, but her arms never loosened their protective embrace around her child,” according to another witness who refused to give his name.
The attackers showed no mercy to the pleading mother, according to spouse Badung Benjamin. “My wife crawled, begging to be spared, but the evil herdsmen slaughtered her for no reason,” Benjamin said through tears and heavy sighs.
The Race Against Time
First responders managed to rush the severely wounded mother to Riyom Hospital, but the damage was too extensive for the ill-equipped rural facility. Medical staff, recognizing the gravity of her condition, immediately referred her to Jos University Teaching Hospital, about 30 miles away.
But time—that precious commodity—had run out. Before the ambulance could embark on its desperate journey to the better-equipped hospital in Jos, Kangyang Benjamin breathed her last, her mission accomplished. Baby Dalo had survived, cradled in his mother’s dying arms.
A Father’s Anguish
When TruthNigeria visited Benjamin Badung in his grief-stricken home, the father of five broke down completely. His shoulders shook with sobs as he struggled to comprehend how his wife’s simple journey to seek empowerment had ended in such unspeakable tragedy.
“The death of my wife came to me as a rude shock I am yet to fully grasp,” he managed between tears. The man who once shared laughter and dreams with his beloved Kangyang now faced the daunting task of raising five children alone, including the eight-month-old baby whose life his wife had purchased with her own.
A Child’s Innocent Recognition
Perhaps the most heart-wrenching moment during TruthNigeria’s visit came from four-year-old Marvelous Benjamin, the couple’s fourth child. As her father spoke with the reporter, the little girl spotted Fulani herdsmen grazing cattle about 300 meters away. In her local Berom dialect, she called her father’s attention to “the Fulani that killed her mother.”
At less than five years old, Marvelous already carries the mental image of her mother’s gruesome murder—a burden no child should bear.
Hope Amid Heartbreak
A ray of hope emerged for the Badung family from an unexpected source. Equipping the Persecuted, an Iowa-based missionary aid group, made a financial donation to Benjamin Badung for the upkeep of baby Dalo.
Juud Saul, founder of Equipping the Persecuted, said the donation aims to bring some succor to the bereaved family. “We cannot stand by and watch as Christian communities suffer under these senseless attacks,” Saul said to TruthNigeria, describing the ongoing violence as “a senseless jihad that is bound to fail by the power of the living God.”
Steven Kefas is a conflict reporter for TruthNigeria.
