Truth Nigeria, by Douglas Burton: Christians in Nigeria’s Middle Belt may be facing large-scale massacres as Christmas approaches, according to Judd Saul, founder of Equipping the Persecuted, an Iowa-based NGO serving persecuted believers.
Saul sounded his warning to religious freedom activists at Washington’s National Press Club Dec. 10 under the banner of “Why Nigeria Matters in US Global Strategy for Peace.”
“We have information that the Fulani ethnic militia are weaponizing and gathering forces along the border between Plateau State and Nasarawa State and along the Nasarawa State Benue State border and along the Nasarawa- Kaduna State border,” Saul said. And they are planning to hit on or before Christmas, the towns of Riyom, and Bokkos in Plateau State and in Kafanchan in Kaduna State, and in Agatu in Benue State,” Saul told the gathering.
Saul’s sources include eyewitness reports of terrorist movements shared with reporters filing stories for TruthNigeria.com, an investigative news site founded by Saul in 2023.
TruthNigeria gave the most detailed and factual reporting of the so-called Black-Christmas massacre campaign in Central Plateau State that took the lives of 295 unarmed men, women and children from Dec. 23, 2023 to Dec. 26, 2023. Up to 3,000 jihadist mercenaries speaking the language of the Fulani tribe fanned out to 38 villages over the course of several days, according to TruthNigeria senior editor Masara Kim.
To prevent a catastrophic repeat of the Black Christmas massacre this year the US government should partner with local and village security teams, according to Saul. “You cannot trust the local [federal] government apparatus because it has been fully infiltrated by the Fulani ethnic militia. Second, the Department of State, U.S. Embassy and the various agencies need to get on the same page,” Saul went on to say.
“We have been running into roadblocks with information we’ve been trying to give to the US government,” he added. “There are people inside the embassy fighting us and fighting our mission within our own government. And there are people within the Trump administration withholding key information about what is going on in Nigeria,” Saul said.
Nigerian Government Can Do More
The conference was convened by the International Committee of Nigeria (ICON), headed by Stephen Enada, who echoed the alarm sounded by Judd Saul.
“Over 100 thousand people have been killed over the last 10 years by Boko Haram, Fulani militia and others in targeted killings of Christians,” Enada said, adding, “If the United States does nothing – God forbid – millions will be killed by jihadists.”
“After the president got involved in November, we thought the Nigerian government would emphasize counterinsurgency yet instead they put all of their energies into counter-narrative,” Enada told the group.
TruthNigeria Praised for Coverage of Nigeria
Former Congressman Frank Wolf (Rep. VA) sat with the panel of experts and was applauded frequently for his pioneering legislation of 1998, the International Religious Freedom Act, to establish International Religious Freedom as a formal branch of the U.S State Department. Wolf lauded TruthNigeria for posting accurate and timely reports from Nigeria’s Middle Belt.
“TruthNigeria reports attacks on Nigerian villages almost on a daily basis, yet officials have ignored these reports and attributed these attacks to climate change,” Wolf said.
The former congressman from Virginia urged that President Trump appoint a Special Envoy for Nigeria to carry the same powers as former Sen. John C. Danforth carried with him in his work to resolve the Sudanese crisis in 2021. “A special envoy would send a message to all the nations that the envoy speaks for the U.S. President,” Wolf told the group.
Challenging the Culture of Denial
“There has been a culture of denial in Nigeria forever. It is horrible,” Representative Chris Smith of New Jersey said. “Boko Haram was founded in 2001 and even after the United Nations bombing in 2011, we sought Foreign Terrorist Organization designation for Boko Haram, yet there was pushback,” Smith said, citing resistance from Nigeria as well as the U.S. State Department. “The phenomena of Boko Haram is a response of government refusal to deliver services, according to US Assistant Secretary Johnnie Cas arson at the time,” Smith said, denouncing a longtime problem with the culture of denial.
“Culture of denial persist to this very moment,” Smith said, adding that the delegation of Nigerian officials led by Nigerian national security Advisor Nuhu Ribadu, who Badu had come to Washington in November to plead with the US government to reverse the designation of country of particular concern. Smith urged that the global Magnitsky act sanctions be implemented against individuals in Nigeria who have supported persecution of Christians.
He said these sanctions have worked years ago to inhibit the actions of the Sudanese government to persecute Christians in Sudan. “We need global Magnitsky sanctions to be implemented in the 12 Sharia States in northern Nigeria,” Smith said.
Mr. Asif Mahmood, the Vice Chair of the U.S. Commission of International Freedom told the group that USCIRF monitors the violent acts of non-state actors in Nigeria as well as the often-overlooked violations of religious freedom of the government itself. “Today 12 of Nigeria’s 36 states impose criminal penalties on people whose religion is outside of Islam.” Mahmood said.
Former Assistant Secretary of State Robert Destro ask the group, “What do we do now to help the government of Nigeria to act?” Destro’s recommendation was that the United States equip Nigeria with drones to surveil terrorist movements. “We need drones in the air before Christmas,” Destro said. “In fact, drones will change the nature of security in Nigeria,” he added.
Prophetic Link:
“Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.” Matthew 24:9