According to many reports, suspected Fulani herdsmen in the Kajuru local government area of Nigeria’s Kaduna took the lives of around 23 people this week.

The Southern Kaduna People’s Union confirmed In a press statement released on Tuesday, that at least 17 people were killed and six injured when Fulani militia laid siege to the Gonan Rogo village in the late hours of Monday night into Tuesday morning.

“They broke into the home of Jonathan Yakubu, 40 and slaughtered him. They als killed his wife, Sheba Yakubu 32, and hacked to death their only three children,” SOKPU National Public Relations Officer Luka Binniyat said in a press statement.

“From this compound trails of blood led to another gory scene of where Kauna Magaji was killed along with her daughter, Faith Magaji, who died of grisly cutlasses cut to their heads,” Binniyat added.

According to SOKPU, the rebels then struck another attack and a 25-year-old mother named Saraunia Lucky, a 6-year-old, and 3-month-old child. The baby survived and the Albarka Baptist Church is taking care of him and his aunt.

In another home, the militia brutally attacked a Christian couple in their 20s. They also killed a 60-year-old Mailafia Dalhatu when he was trying to escape.

“In total, no fewer than 17 persons were murdered in cold blood for no apparent reason by persons who the villagers identified as Fulani,” Binniyat said.

“[Six] people are now receiving treatments in various hospitals. A total of seven cows were rustled. The compound of Liberty Yari was razed but was lucky to escape with his household,” Binniyat added.

According to SOKPU, the Fulani neighbors who have lived around the community for over 40 years left the night before the attack.

A mass burial on Tuesday

Kajuru resident Alheri Magaji, who leads the nonprofit Resilient Aid and Dialogue Initiative, shared details about the incident in Gonan Rogo.

“Yesterday morning, while people slept in their houses, the Fulani people came in and slaughtered people,” she said.

There is a 6-month old baby that was killed as well. We have pictures of how they used machetes to cut open heads of people and kill a lot of people,” she added.

Magaji added that two more attacks occurred on Wednesday within a 15-minutes distance of Gonan Rogo village in the Kajuru area.

“After the mass burial yesterday, two more attacks happened,” she said, adding that a handful of people were killed in one attack, and one person was killed in the other. “It is the same area, just in different villages.”

According to a nongovernmental organization that monitors Christian persecution in over 20 countries, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, 25 people dead resulted from five recent attacks in Kaduna.

The CSW said that the most recent attacks are the latest in a series of coordinated attacks on Christian communities in southern Kaduna.

Since the nation’s COVID-19 lockdown went into effect on March 25, the rights group has reported 11 attacks by Fulani militia across five local government areas.

 No Fulani person has been arrested for the killings

Despite the massive attacks, the government has not arrested any of the group yet.

“The governor, until now, has said nothing,” Magaji said.

“The governor has not made any statement, the commissioner for security has not said anything. It went viral yesterday on Twitter and the presidency made a statement. But their statement is calling it ‘revenge attacks,’” she continued.

“We are asking, ‘Revenge, from what?’ They always make it look like the Adara went to attack Fulani people and Fulani [then] come to attack. They have not been able to say what attack the Adara people did on the Fulanis that caused the Fulanis to attack,” she added.

Fulani violence is not just a problem for the people of Kaduna. Fulani radicals across Nigeria’s Middle Belt states of Plateau, Benue, Taraba and Kaduna have launched several attacks against predominantly Christian farming communities in the last half-decade.

Source: The Christian Post