An attack on Christians in Nigeria over Christmas has left nearly 200 people dead. While Muslim herders are thought to be behind the violence, some major media outlets have blamed climate change for the killings, appearing to downplay existing religious conflicts.
The massacre took place on Christmas Eve in 26 different villages across the central Plateau state in the country’s interior. Locals said that bands of men armed with guns and machetes attacked villagers, killing 198 and wounding a further 300 in some of the worst anti-Christian violence seen in Nigeria in years, according to the Catholic News Agency.
The Guardian newspaper, like several other media outlets including the Reuters news agency and the German newspaper Die Zeit, has partially blamed climate change for the murders, stating that the attackers—predominantly Muslim herdsmen—massacred the Christian farmers over competing interests for natural resources.
The European Conservative spoke to Roman Catholic priest Fr. Benedict Kiely, who works with persecuted Christians around the world. With his charity Nasarean.org, he helps Christians start small businesses in areas where they have been heavily persecuted, mainly by Muslims.
Fr. Kiely commented on the media outlets trying to blame the attacks on climate change, saying:
This is the narrative of the post-Christian globalist West. How could they dare admit there is a genocide going on in Nigeria perpetrated by Muslims against Christians—it would demand action. I remember hearing the words of the Bishop of Ondo in Nigeria last year, when more than 40 of his people were killed at Pentecost Mass—he said “40 of my people were not killed because of global warming, but because they were Christians.”
Hungarian President Katalin Novák called for more to be done to protect Christians facing persecution after the attacks, writing on X:
Brutal attack on Christians at Christmas in Nigeria. According to certain news outlets, more than a hundred people were killed. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims. This massacre must end. Persecuted Christians must receive help.
Brutal attack on #Christians at #Christmas in #Nigeria. According to certain news outlets, more than a hundred people were killed. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims. This massacre must end. Persecuted Christians must receive help.
Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang also condemned the attacks saying they were “barbaric, brutal and unjustified.” A spokesman for the governor added that the local government would be taking “proactive measures” to stop attacks on innocent civilians in the region.
Markus Amorudu, a villager and witness, described the violence saying, “We were scared because we weren’t expecting an attack. People hid, but the assailants captured many of us, some were killed, others wounded.”
The attack is just the latest episode amid years of persecution and massacres of Christians in Nigeria, which Fr. Kiely and others have said now represents an ongoing attempt at genocide.
Earlier this year, in an article for The European Conservative, Father Kiely highlighted just some of the killings that took place in the first few months of 2023, including the massacre of 35 people on Good Friday who were also killed by Muslim herdsmen.
He wrote:
The murders were mainly attributed to climate change. The Muslim Fulani herdsmen ‘need’ to kill Christians, as they have been for many years, to find grazing land for their cattle. This ‘necessary’ depopulation for the sake of climate change apparently involves, burning churches that are filled with worshippers, the destruction of villages, rape, kidnapping and, as on Pentecost Sunday last year, shooting more than 40 people attending Mass.
Fr. Kiely also noted that Nigerian Christians and their plight are often overlooked by major governments, particularly the United States under President Joe Biden. Kiely says trade—particularly the arms trade—is a reason why Christian persecution in Nigeria goes largely unmentioned by the Biden administration.
It is estimated that in the last 14 years, more than 52,000 Christians have been murdered in Nigeria because of their faith. In 2021, Fr. Joseph Fidelis from the diocese of Maiduguri expressed frustration over the description of the situation as “clashes” or “conflicts” between opposing groups. “It is not a clash, it is a slow genocide.”
The shocking statistic comes from a report released this year by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), which claims that attacks by herdsmen linked to jihadist groups such as Boko Haram have been a significant factor in the killing of Christians.
In addition to murders, the report claims that as many as five million Christians in Nigeria have been displaced or moved to internal refugee camps within the country and at least 18,000 churches across the country have been set on fire along with over 2,200 Christian schools.
