During the Lenten season, and leading up to Easter, more than 170 Nigerian Christians were killed across the country’s Middle Belt region. At least 72 died in Benue state after several targeted attacks by suspected Fulani militants April 18-20. 

“The assaults struck multiple villages in Ukum and Logo counties during the Holy Weekend, turning what should have been a time of solemn reflection and worship into a scene of terror,” said an article on Persecution.org. 

As bodies were being pulled from the bush on April 21, Easter Monday, thousands protested peacefully during a march against rising Islamist violence. 

Security forces and local volunteers continue to search for more victims in surrounding forests, suggesting the death toll could continue to rise. Thousands have fled the region.

 Gov. Hyacinth Alia described the massacre as “a calculated and strategic attack on innocent Christian farmers.” 

“These were peaceful people observing their Holy Land,” Alia said. “The scale and timing of the violence is heartbreaking. We cannot continue like this.” 

“We are under siege as a state,” the governor said after attending a church service on April 21. “They come, they drag people out, they kill to occupy.”

As Gov. Alia was speaking, people in neighboring Plateau State were also expressing their anger and grief over anti-Christian violence that had claimed dozens more lives in the two local government associations (LGAs) of Bokkos and Bassa in the first two weeks of April, where entire communities were razed.

According to Open Doors, Fulani militant-led attacks took place in eight Plateau State LGA communities since the end of March, killing around 113 people, including some Christians, and displacing thousands of others. 

“Alongside those killed … , a further six are missing and many others injured,” Open Doors said. “Over 300 homes have been destroyed, leaving more than 3,000 people displaced.”  On April 13, Palm Sunday, 43 people were killed and several houses burned down with people inside, a local contact told Open Doors.  

As the thousands marched peacefully through the Plateau State capital Jos to Government House, many carried placards that read “The ground cries blood,” “We deserve to live,” and “No more silence, peace now.” 

“We are tired of mass burials,” said Pastor Amon Mozho, chairman of the Denominational Leaders Forum, which organized the rally,” according to Barnabasaid.org. “Enough is enough.” 

“This is not a communal crisis,” he said. “It is a brutal campaign against innocent lives in Plateau.” 

 These recent killings are part of a pattern of religious violence in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, where Fulani militants and Islamic extremists frequently target Christian farmers, according to Persecution.org. The attacks often occur around Christian holy days, seemingly a deliberate effort to intimidate religious minorities.