By Masara Kim
Days after U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) introduced a bill seeking to penalize Nigerian officials who aide Christian persecution, at least half a dozen people have died in related violence in central Nigeria, TruthNigeria has learned. The early evening attack on the southern border of Plateau with Nasarawa State on September 14 followed one week after five people were killed in the area by terrorists who have set up camps and displaced thousands in recent months, TruthNigeria learned.
The incident involved the few of residents who had managed to return to their homes following fresh military deployments has renewed concerns about government interventions in the majority Christian state, with lawmakers urging residents to unite against the violence.
“It is time for us to come together and demand an end to these senseless killings,” wrote Ishaya David Lalu, a member of the Nigerian House of Representatives in a statement.
“We have experienced similar attacks in the past, including the recent ones in April and May, which resulted in the loss of many lives,” wrote Lalu who represents Mangu and Bokkos at the House of Reps.
“I am deeply saddened by the unfortunate events that occurred on the night of September 14, 2025, in Ikn’gwakap Mushere Chiefdom of Bokkos LGA,” Lalu wrote.
Just five days after U.S. Senator Cruz introduced the Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act 2025 to protect Nigerian Christians and other religious minorities from targeted violence, terrorists shouting Allahu’akbar according to witnesses invaded the town of Ik’ngwakap, part of a group of villages known as Mushere, located in the Bokkos county.
In an instant, the Fulani speaking terrorists gunned down six people and burned several homes despite the presence of a unit of three policemen and six soldiers on the approach to the town, TruthNigeria learned.
‘Anyone in sight was instantly killed‘
Mr. Mimang Diyak, a resident of Ikn’gwakap told TruthNigeria the attack started around 7pm local time at a market area in the center of the town where residents often shopped for groceries. “Anyone in sight was instantly killed,” Diyak said. “I had just left the market area when I heard gunshots and grabbed my children and fled into the surrounding cornfields,” Diyak said, adding the terrorists split into multiple groups, invading the town from different directions. Luckily, most residents had already fled the area due to previous attacks in the surrounding. Four of the six victims were male residents who were part of a civilian watch unit in the town according to Diyak. The attackers caught them off guard just moments before their usual night watch, Diyak reported.
Maichibi Haruna, a youth leader in Mushere told TruthNigeria the attackers took advantage of the rocky terrain in the surrounding, wading into the town through an encircling stream. According to Haruna who is the national Secretary of the Mushere Youth Movement, the terrorists emerged from a southern part of Mushere known as Hokk, which has been completely taken over by the terrorists. “The attackers went through another displaced town, Ndimar, and came in through the rocky outskirts of Ikn’gwaghap, unseen due to tall corn crops,” said Haruna by telephone. The youth leader credited a unit of three policemen and four soldiers at a nearby checkpoint for preventing a greater loss of life. “We heard gunshots around 7:30 pm, and within 5 minutes, I went to the army checkpoint to seek their intervention, but I was told they had mobilized to the scene,” he said.
A soldier from the military team in Ikn’gwaghap wrote about his encounter in a messaging group. “It was tough for us [yesterday] evening at Ik-ngwakap Mushere,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, people were dead and houses, shops burned before we arrived,” wrote the soldier in the group in WhatsApp with TruthNigeria as member.
‘Only a handful of soldiers‘
Despite the military’s improved response, tribal lawyer Farmasum Fuddang is dissatisfied with the overall intervention in Bokkos. Just a week prior, Fuddang, who chairs the Bokkos Cultural Development Forum (BCDF) Vanguard, witnessed the funeral of five of his members killed in a nearby town. This followed just two weeks after Nigeria’s Chief of Defense Staff, General Christopher Musa promised fresh troop deployments and equipment to effectively combat terrorism and safeguard lives in the region.
Fuddang criticized the perceived disparity in military response in the region compared to the northwest and northeast. “When incidents occur in those areas, urgent deployments, including air support, follow immediately,” he wrote. “In our case, only a handful of soldiers and police if ever, equipped with inferior resources and inadequate mobility, are dispatched. This situation is unjust.”
He also claimed that for over three months, terrorists fleeing military operations in Zamfara and other northwestern areas have established camps in Mushere, killing and displacing thousands. Fuddang urged Nigerian authorities to take immediate action to prevent a “terrorist takeover in Plateau State.”
“The ongoing displacement of our communities in Bokkos reflects a desperate attempt by terrorists to impose their agenda, using the southern border with Nasarawa State and Kaduna for easy movement from Zamfara and the northwest,” he wrote, backed by Rep. Lalu.
“As the Member representing Mangu/Bokkos Federal Constituency, I want to assure you that I am committed to standing with you during this difficult time,” Lalu wrote, demanding the arrest of the perpetrators by law enforcement.
Following recent approval of over $1billion in arms purchased for Nigeria by the United States government, rights advocates have raised concerns over military interventions in Nigeria’s middle belt region. According to Dede Laugesen, the President and CEO of Save the Persecuted Christians, military armament and deployments in the region have often ended up aiding attacks on communities.
“The United States must ensure that the over $1bn in arms sales approved for Nigeria does not further equip the terrorists nor the corrupt military industrial complex that ensures the violence never ends,” said Laugesen during a recent press conference at the Rayburn House in Washington DC.
“Americans do not want to be funding genocide against Christians in Nigeria. We do not want our taxes to pay for or provide arms for the terrorists who are killing Nigeria’s Christians. We need certainty and we need accountability,” Laugesen said.
Masara Kim is a conflict reporter in Jos, Nigeria and a senior Editor at TruthNigeria.
