But Doesn’t Identify Perpetrators: Fulani Ethnic Militia
Nearby Army Outpost Failed to Intervene
By Mike Odeh James and Luka Binniyat
(Kaduna) nPresident Bola Tinubu, in an unusual response to a Middle Belt attack on Christians farmers in a rural village in the eastern edge of Kaduna State, has demanded the arrest of the attackers.
“I have directed the Armed Forces, police, and relevant intelligence agencies to intensify operations across the affected areas to track down the perpetrators swiftly, secure the release of abducted individuals, and restore normalcy to the region,” the President said, according to a press statement issued in Abuja Monday.
Fulani Ethnic Militia killed at least 30 Christians in a late night raid Sunday on Naridon Village in Kaduna State, survivors told TruthNigeria. Early reports of the atrocity did not mention the ethnicity of the attackers, even though locals recognized the armed attackers as Fulani tribe members,
The gunmen stormed the farming community in Kamaru Ward of Kauru County at about 11 p.m., firing indiscriminately on residents as they slept. Eight children were among the dead, according to Punch..
“So far, 30 people have been confirmed killed, while seven others sustained injuries and are currently receiving treatment in hospital. The attackers also set one residential house ablaze and destroyed five business shops during the assault,” Dr. Sunday Aboh, a Naridon resident and eyewitness to the attack, told TruthNigeria. President Tinubu mentioned in his press release that persons from Naridon had been kidnapped, but no reports have confirmed a number of missing persons.
The massacre capped a weekend of coordinated violence that swept from Benue State through Plateau into Southern Kaduna, pushing the confirmed death toll across several northern and states to 60 by week’s end, TruthNigeria reported in its weekly attack summary. Almost all of the victims were Christians from farming communities in Nigeria’s embattled Middle Belt.
“The attackers were Fulani by tribe. They invaded our community after one of their own, whom we suspect was accidentally killed by fellow Fulani during an earlier operation in the area. Following that incident, they returned and launched this deadly attack,” said Aboh, a youth leader in the area.
Yet unexplained is why am Nigerian Army Forward Operating Base just 5 km away from Naridon failed to send a relief unit during the attack that lasted from 11:00 a.m. till 2:00 a.m., according to TruthNigeria reporter Steven Kefas speaking to News Central TV.
“The assailants also attacked a neighboring village in Gana Wuri, Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State. From everything we witnessed, this was not a random attack. It was targeted along religious lines, with Christian communities bearing the brunt of the violence,” Aboh said.
The cross border reach of the assault, striking communities on both sides of the Kaduna Plateau line in a single operation, underscores how freely the Fulani Terrorists move through a frontier security forces have failed to close.
Attacks Tied to National Elections?
The location of the Naridon attack carries its own message. Naridon sits close to the home village of Minister of Defense Christopher Musa. Residents say the target was chosen to embarrass both Musa and President Bola Tinubu, proof the Fulani Terrorists can kill Christians at the minister’s doorstep under a government that has promised protection it has not delivered.
The spate of attacks by Fulani terrorists in several Middle Belt States in June and July is a synchronized effort by Fulani terrorist leaders to embarrass the Administration of President Tinubu five months before national elections, according to TruthNigeria security sources speaking on background.
American lawmakers have passed legislation that would condition aid to Nigeria based upon improvement of Abuja’s campaign against terrorism. American frustration rests on numbers Abuja disputes but cannot erase. The Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa counted some 28,500 Christians killed in religious violence over six years, more than double the Muslim toll, with Fulani militia violence identified as the dominant driver.
A Week of Blood Across Three States
The Naridon killings were the climax, not the beginning. In Benue State, at least four people, including a mother, were killed and several others injured, among them children with severe machete wounds, in attacks on communities in Ohimini and Ukum counties between Friday and Saturday. The attackers rustled cattle and drove residents into the bush, where searches for the missing continued.
In a separate Saturday assault on Agadagba community, armed herdsmen killed two more people, bringing that community’s toll to three dead and two hospitalized.
Communities along the embattled northeastern corridor of Benue State spanning Ukum and Katsina Ala counties came under coordinated attack over three days, leaving one person dead.
In Plateau State over the weekend, Nigerian troops intercepted Fulani Terrorists advancing through Manja Forest toward Manja community. Lance Corporal Yusuf Zakari was killed in the firefight, and the attackers seized his rifle before melting back into the forest
Then the militia struck Naridon.
A Ward Under Siege
Sunday’s massacre was the second attack on Kamaru Ward in six weeks. On June 16, gunmen struck Angwan Magaji, an Irigwe Christian community in the same ward, killing nine people, five of them children, and injuring 11. The Irigwe Nation held a mass burial on June 28, renewing appeals for government protection that never came.
A Delayed Official Response
The state government has issued a statement condemning the attack, saying it had directed security agencies to intensify operations. Governor Uba Sani extended condolences, directed the state emergency management agency to provide relief, and pledged cooperation with Plateau State to strengthen border security.
For survivors burying 30 neighbors, eight of them children, the statement arrived after the silence and long after the gunmen had gone.
Mike Odeh James and Luka Binniyat are award-winning conflict reporters for TruthNigeria.
