Washington Watches with Interest
By Onibiyo Segun and Mike Odeh James
(Jos) – A Nigerian prophet with Fulani tribe ancestry is building watchtowers and camera networks in Jos North because two governments cannot stop Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM) killings, and Washington has noticed.
On Thursday, July 30, 2026, Prophet Isa El-Buba launched the Peace Ambassadors Joint Task Force in Jos North LGA, Plateau State: more than 20 security outposts, a CCTV network covering key entry points, 10 rapid-response motorcycles, and unarmed volunteer guards drawn from churches and neighborhood associations.
“We are not waiting for another massacre. We are building walls where government walls have failed,” El-Buba said, according to Sahara Reporters.
The walls answer slaughter. On March 29, 2026, more than 20 gunmen stormed Gari Ya Waye in Angwan Rukuba, killing 28 people, according to Plateau Governor Caleb Mutfwang.
“The state has failed us. We buried 28 people in one night. We cannot wait,” said resident Bulus Isaiah.
A Pattern of Ethnic Conquest Followed by Occupation
Jos North is one point in a corridor of bloodshed running through Nigeria’s Middle Belt – Plateau, Benue, Taraba, and southern Kaduna, where TruthNigeria has documented repeated massacres in Bokkos, Mangu, and Barkin Ladi counties, alongside parallel campaigns against farming villages in Benue and Taraba.
The attacks follow a template: night raids on predominantly Christian farming communities, mass killing, arson then occupation of vacated land.
Testimony before the U.S. Congress in June 2025 described thousands of Christians killed and millions displaced in Benue, Plateau, Kaduna, and other Middle Belt states by Fulani militia violence.
A February 2026 U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee report urged Nigeria’s government to secure farmland and enable displaced communities to return.
Washington Sounds the Alarm
The pattern has moved the crisis onto America’s agenda. On October 31, 2025, President Donald Trump redesignated Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern,” citing mass slaughter of Christians by radical Islamist groups.
Congress has pressed further. In February 2026, Representatives Riley Moore and Chris Smith introduced the Nigeria Religious Freedom and Accountability Act, mandating assessment of both governments’ responses to violence against Christians.
House appropriators in June 2025 proposed conditioning security assistance to Nigeria on steps to protect civilians in the Middle Belt.
Two Governments, Neither Protecting
Nigeria’s constitution centralizes policing in Abuja, leaving governors like Mutfwang to coordinate with federal forces without direct command.
Federal deployments and Operation Enduring Peace have responded to Plateau attacks, but community leaders say response times remain slow.
How the Model Works
Volunteers are vetted with security agencies and trained in observation, reporting, first aid, and de-escalation. They carry no firearms; suspects are handed to police. CCTV feeds and patrol reports go to Operation Enduring Peace. Funding comes from church offerings, community levies, and diaspora donations, organizers told TruthNigeria reporters.
The Risks
“Every community security structure must answer: who controls the guards when they make mistakes?” said Dr. Chris Obaje, conflict researcher at Kogi State University, in an interview with TruthNigeria reporters.
“Surveillance without command integration becomes evidence after an attack, not prevention,” warned Okorie Francis, a former DSS officer, in an interview with TruthNigeria reporters.
“Faith gives trust. The state gives law. Combine them with technology and oversight, and you have a chance,” said counter-terrorism analyst Dr. Hadiza Usman in an interview with TruthNigeria reporters.
From Haiti’s neighborhood brigades to Mexico’s autodefensas, citizens abandoned by the state eventually arm themselves or, as in Jos North, watch for those who do. Whether Washington’s pressure finally compels Abuja to protect its indigenous Christians, the watchtowers of Jos North testify that they have stopped waiting.
Onibiyo Segun and Mike Odeh James are conflict reporters for TruthNigeria.
