Dear Nigeria, Stop Counting Christian Corpses Like Scores — And Ask Why Muslims Don’t Record Their Own Killings! 😤⚰️
The Untold Agony of Christian Suffering and the Price of Indifference
When we speak of love for Nigeria, what do we mean? Patriotism in logos, political branding, or loud chants on social media? Love demands more than hashtags. It demands courage — especially when your fellow Nigerians bleed silently.
Over decades, Nigeria’s landscape has borne scars of violence targeting Christians, often under the guise of ethno-religious conflict, banditry, insurgency, or herder-farmer clashes. The list you recited — from the Yelwa massacres in 2000 to the Yarwata attacks of 2025 — is not just a litany of horrors. It is a witness to systemic neglect, muted outrage, and collective betrayal.
🕯️ A History of Blood and Silence
Let’s recall key episodes, not to sensationalize, but to demand memory and accountability:
February 2000 – Yelwa Massacre (Kebbi State): Reports say 78 Christians were massacred, their bodies left as testimonies of intercommunal violence.
2000 – Kaduna Riots: Over 1,000 Christians reportedly lost their lives in widespread ethno-religious clashes.
November 2002 – Miss World Riots (Kaduna): An estimated ~250 Christians died in the backlash against perceived insults.
Through 2009–2011, Boko Haram’s early Islamist rampages targeted churches and Christian enclaves, seeding terror.
December 24-25, 2010 in Maiduguri and Jos, over 38 were killed in coordinated Christmas attacks.
Christmas Day 2011 in Damaturu and Potiskum saw 45 Christian lives taken.
March 2012, bombings in Jos killed 38 worshippers.
June 2012, Kano church bombings left ~40 dead.
December 25, 2012, 27 Christians were shot during Christmas Eve.
February 2014 – Federal Government College, Yobe: 59 Christian boys were reportedly burned alive.
April 2014 – Chibok abductions: 276 schoolgirls — many of them Christian — were kidnapped, shocking the world.
June 2014 – Gwoza, Borno: Over 90 Christian victims.
June 5, 2022 – Owo Church Massacre (Ondo): 41+ worshippers gunned down during Pentecost Mass.
May 12, 2022 – Deborah Samuel’s lynching (Sokoto): A Christian female student stoned and burned alive over alleged blasphemy.
2015 onward – Fulani Herdsmen Raids (Middle Belt): Thousands of Christians killed, farmland destroyed, entire villages uprooted.
December 23–26, 2023 – Plateau Christmas Attacks: More than 140 massacred in 26 villages.
April 2025 – Hurti Attacks (Plateau): 56 killed, 5,000 displaced.
April 2025 – Sankera Massacre (Benue): Over 72 hacked to death.
April 13, 2025 – Zike Village (Plateau): 56 (including 15 children) slain.
May 2025 – Benue Attacks: 36 Christians reportedly killed.
June 13–14, 2025 – Yelwata Massacre (Benue): 280 lives lost. (Some sources also list that number as high as 100–200)
June 2025 – Gwer West (Benue): 20+ reportedly killed.
August 2025 – Aye-Twar Church (Plateau): Church razed, congregation attacked.
October 2025 – Barkin Ladi (Plateau): Dozens killed in raids (ongoing, underreported).
From January – November 2025, the NGO Intersociety claims over 7,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria alone.
This is not history. It is our nation’s open wound.
🔍 The Present: A New Wave of Suffering
1. Yelwata Massacre (June 2025) — The Pain That Broke Records
Between June 13 and 14, 2025, assailants struck the community of Yelwata in Benue State — a settlement that had become a refuge for internally displaced Christians. Around 280 people were massacred (some reports put it between 100-200) and over 3,000 displaced in one night. Churches housing refugees were invaded, neighbors slaughtered, and homes razed.
Amnesty International confirmed over 100 people in Guma region were killed.
The massacre spotlighted a grim truth: even refuge camps are no longer safe havens.
2. Benue Attacks, May 2025
Earlier in the year, a spate of raids in Benue State claimed the lives of at least 42 people in four communities. Widows, children, and the elderly were not spared. A Catholic priest was critically injured during the attacks, showing that violence is no longer limited to anonymous villager targets.
3. Akpanta Killings (March 2025, Benue State)
In a brutal dawn assault, suspects identified as herdsmen attacked Akpanta, destroying the community, its churches and homes, and displacing thousands. At least 38+ deaths were confirmed, and over 6,000 people forced to flee.
The assault included arson on Catholic and Anglican churches, a symbolic strike at faith itself.
4. Nigeria Rejects U.S. Threats Over Christian Killings
In November 2025, in the face of international pressure, Donald Trump threatened military intervention, claiming Nigeria had allowed mass killings of Christians. He warned of cutting U.S. aid or launching strikes.
The Nigerian government angrily rejected the threat, insisting that violence in Nigeria isn’t about religion alone, but a complex tangle of geography, banditry, herders, and insurgents.
For many, this was proof that Nigeria’s indifference has now become international rhetoric.
5. Targeted Killings of Clergy Continue
In September 2025, Fr. Mathew Eya was gunned down in Enugu State, allegedly by motorbike gunmen.
Meanwhile, Fr. Wilfred Ezeamba was kidnapped in Kogi State and later released, shining light on repeated clergy abductions.
Church leaders, recognizing the escalation, have publicly supported Intersociety’s findings labeling the situation as “Christian genocide.”
6. Steady Flow of High Counts and Grim Reports
In a 2025 report released by Intersociety, more than 7,087 Christians were killed and nearly 7,800 abducted between January and July.
They further estimated that 185,000 Nigerians have died since 2009 due to jihadist violence — two-thirds of them Christians.
In just 76 days, over 100 Christians were killed and 120 abducted (mid-2025 period).
🧭 Why the Silence? Why So Few Voices?
If you loved Nigeria — as many claim — how did you speak out when:
A child was forced into darkness
A congregation expected light
A pastor praying for peace was silenced
A church became a crime scene
Fear, indifference, political bias, and fragmentation have muzzled many. But when silence surrounds screaming victims, that silence becomes complicity.
Some reasons people stay quiet:
1. “It’s complicated” narrative — Many brush off violence as communal or resource conflict, not religious targeting.
2. Media neglect — Counting bodies gets less clicks than political drama.
3. Political alliances and hypocrisy — Some prefer silence to avoid rocking patronage relationships.
4. Fatigue — The cycle of violence feels endless, and many feel powerless to stop it.
But inaction is a grave lie.
⚖️ What Love for Nigeria Demands
To love Nigeria is not only to defend her national anthem or to wear her flag. Love demands:
Public witness — We must speak her tragedies aloud so they cannot be ignored.
Accountability — Demand justice, press for investigation, protest impunity.
Solidarity with victims — Not just hashtag sympathy, but genuine aid, advocacy, and advocacy.
Equitable protection — Security architecture must protect all Nigerians, not just based on tribe or faith.
Pressure on leadership — Leaders must see voices, not optics.
When foreign powers threaten military action because Nigeria refuses moral introspection, we must ask: Why did we fail our own?
📢 Call to Conscience
You claim to love Nigeria. So:
How loudly did you speak when a pastor died?
How fiercely did you protest when a child was kidnapped?
How squarely did you hold leaders to account?
How much did you teach silence to be betrayal?
This is not a sermon. This is a reminder: Your love is measured in the volume of your voice when others cannot speak.
The darkness you ignore today will swallow your own children’s future tomorrow.
If we believe that Nigerians matter, then every victim matters.
If we believe that Christians in Nigeria are human beings, too, then every church build and every life lost demands more than tears — it demands justice, uproar, and unrelenting witness.
May God give us voices that echo beyond fear.
May history remember those who boldly cried “Enough.”
May Nigeria someday reflect love not as silence, but as sacrifice.
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