Unfolding Humanitarian Crisis Goes Unreported by Nigerian media
By Luka Binniyat and Suleman Ayuba
(Maiduguri) Christians in Southern Borno, Northeast Nigeria, have weathered horrific persecution, mass killing, abductions and displacement, but have shown resilience, TruthNigeria has learned.
The Christian worshipers in Borno have had to contend with a collaboration between the Muslim-led state government and Islamist terrorists, according to a TruthNigeria interview with Dr. Pogu Bitrus, President of the Middle Belt Forum (MBF). The goal appears to be to uproot Christians from their ancestral lands and to replace them with compliant Muslims, Bitrus said.
Nonetheless, it is estimated that 15- 20 percent of Borno’s 6.65 million population remain Christians, according to Christian Global Relief and the 2025 Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA) report. Despite the Federal Government’s claims to the contrary, the Christian minority in Borno is targeted by ISIS insurgencies disproportionately.
It documented persistent killings, abductions, displacement, and destruction of Christian communities, noting that Christians were disproportionately targeted in many attacks despite Muslims also suffering from the insurgency.
Christians To Raise 10,000-man Guard Force
Chief Tarfa Makanaki, Coordinator Southern Borno Independent Hunters Association (SBIHA) told TruthNigeria from Mbala, Mbala ward of Chibok county, of Southern Borno Monday July 6, 2026 that his group was meeting with volunteer guards in Southern Borno to reclaim Christian communities displaced by Islamists, irrespective of government assistance.
“Hunters who are Christians from neighborhood states are coming. We are forming a collaboration with vigilantes from villages that are still standing and the ones that have fled,” he told TruthNigeria.
“We are teaming back, because it is clear that the government both at the state and from the Federal Government do not seem to care about us,” he said.
“By the grace of God, we can raise about 10,000 fighters by early August this year,” he said.
“We will start a sustainable war with Boko Haram, and we shall never retreat,” he added.
When asked if hunters and vigilantes can sustain a war with Boko Haram, Dr Bitrus retorted to TruthNigeria, “Yes: have we not resisted Islamisation for centuries? But we may have to forget the so-called presence of the military in some outposts. ”
Shame On The Media
““It is a big shame that the Nigerian and international media has either been bribed to keep our story away, or maybe we don’t form any relevant humanity in Nigeria.”
Bitrus said Christians in Southern Borno had shown remarkable resilience in defending their communities and preserving their faith despite years of terrorist attacks.
According to the 2025 report by the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA), terrorism in Nigeria has disproportionately affected Christians. Between October 2019 and September 2024, about 2.4 Christians were killed for every Muslim nationwide, rising to 5.2 Christians for every Muslim in states where anti-Christian attacks occurred. In Northeast Nigeria, where Boko Haram and ISWAP operate, both Christians and Muslims have suffered heavily, although Christian communities experienced a significantly higher rate of targeted killings in many affected areas.
The Dark Christian Story of Gwoza
The grim situation is made clearer by Dr. Rev. Ayuba John Bassa and Rev. Filibus K. Goma, national coordinator and chairman of the Board of Trustees of Gwoza Christian Community Association (GCCA), respectively.
Their documented account of the violence carried out by the Islamists was published in part by Sahara Reporters in 2025.
“Gwoza once had a thriving Christian presence,” according to Bassa.
“Before the insurgency, there were more than 176 large church buildings across Gwoza Local Government.
“Today, 148 of those churches have been burned and lie in ruins.
“Entire Christian neighbourhoods in Gwoza East and West were flattened; in many places, every Christian home was destroyed,” Bassa and Goma told Sahara Reporters last year.
“The human toll and destruction are detailed and specific,” the Sahara Reporters report continues.
“In Gava-West alone, 74 towns and villages were sacked, 36,946 families were dispersed, 99 churches were destroyed, and 292 people were killed in September 2013.
“In Attagara, 13 churches were destroyed, 1,738 families displaced and 140 Christians killed by 3 June 2014.
“About 107,000 Gwoza Christians are scattered in 27 internally displaced persons camps across seven Nigerian states and in the Minawao refugee camp in Cameroon, while almost 50,000 are squatting with relatives in towns and cities across Nigeria,” said GCCA.
To date there have been no official public announcements or verified reports indicating that the Southern Borno Independent Hunters Association (SBIHA) is raising a new statewide vigilante group.
Instead, the Borno State Government, under Governor Babagana Zulum, is depending upon the Nigerian Army garrisons supported by existing local hunters, vigilante groups, and the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) to defeat the well-armed terrorists of Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West Africa (ISWAP), according to social media sources. Time will tell which strategy will produce needed results.
Luka Binniyat writes for TruthNigeria from Kaduna and Suleman Ayuba contributes from Maiduguri.
