Christian Death Toll Rises to 200 in 4-Day Muslim ‘Killing Spree’ in Nigeria.

The death toll of last weekend’s massacre of Nigerian Christians by militant Muslim Fulani herdsmen has risen to at least 200, according to a report released Friday by Open Doors, an organization that monitors Christian persecution.

As Breitbart News reported earlier this week, heavily armed gunmen recognized as Fulani herdsmen opened fire on Christians in a number of villages in Plateau State of central Nigeria last weekend, killing scores and injuring hundreds more, as well as burning some 50 homes to the ground. Most of the victims were returning home from the funeral of the father of a local Christian minister.

Despite the evidently religious nature of the slaughter, mainstream media chose to downplay the militant Islamism behind the attacks, preferring to attribute the violence to “ethnic tensions,” a “battle for land and resources,” or even “climate change.”

Meanwhile, two local Catholic bishops have called out the violence for what it was: a “clear agenda for Islamizing the Nigerian Middle Belt” by using Fulani shepherds.

One of the bishops, Matthew Ishaya Audu of Lafia, said the attacks are not random or economically motivated, but purposefully target Christians.

“They want to strike Christians,” Bishop Audu said, “and the government does nothing to stop them, because President Buhari is also of the Fulani ethnic group.”

Other observers concur that the attacks form part of a larger plan to eliminate Christians from the area.

“The killings are becoming no longer herder and farmer clashes” but a “deliberate attempt to conquer and occupy the land of the people’s ancestral heritage,” said Dr. Soja Bewarang, while denouncing an attack on a Bible school that trained Christian missionaries in Gana-Ropp village.

Reverend Gideon Para-Mallam, of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students in Jos, said that the violence is part of a pattern, an emerging agenda, which represents “another Boko Haram in disguise.”

The intensity of the attacks in central Nigeria is indicative, Para-Mallam said, “because Plateau state is the epicenter of Christianity.”

The recent “killing spree” lasted four days, Thursday through Sunday evening and into Monday, Open Doors revealed in its report Friday.

During this time, a dozen villages in Nigeria’s Plateau state were reportedly wiped out and on Sunday, 75 of the victims were buried in a mass grave.

Among the victims of the massacre included a local pastor, Rev. Musa Choji, along with his wife and son.

In a single village, Nghar, herdsmen killed over 100 Christians and burned down all the houses, as well as two churches, according to an unnamed pastor of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA).

Assailants killed 14 members of the pastor’s wife’s family, including her mother and sister. In that household, 27 people lost their lives, all of them burned to death, Open Doors said.

On the day of the attack in Nghar, only two soldiers and one policeman were in the village, but they reportedly fled as soon as the herdsmen launched their attack.

Although the anti-Christian violence came to a head over the weekend, in reality it has been going on for some time, according to Pastor Steve Kwol, chairman of the Pentecostal Federation of Nigeria for Plateau North.

Even since the weekend, with a military presence and dusk-to-dawn curfew, the assaults are ongoing, he said. Two more villages—Kwi and Dorowa—were badly damaged on Monday.

Most of the buildings were burned down in Dorowa, including four church buildings, and the adjoining buildings, including pastors’ houses, were also destroyed by fire.

Herdsmen set fire to a number of buildings, including churches, in Kwi as well. The precise number of casualties is unknown, but many villagers were displaced and are now living in camps in neighboring villages.

“We’ve been living peacefully with [Fulani herdsmen]” Pastor Kwol said. “Since this crisis started in Plateau in recent months, our people have not killed one Fulani man. Instead, they have been killing our people one by one. We just buried them and carried on.” he said.

“As a result of the ongoing insecurity, there are places where people can no longer go to farm,” he said, “because when they go, the Fulani will come and take their cows, or attack them.”

“Just two weeks ago, they shot my wife’s young brother. But he survived. He was discharged on Wednesday and had returned home on Thursday, only to get killed in the last attack, on Saturday,” he said.

Courtesy: BreitBart

KILLINGS: WE HAVE NO CONTROL OVER SECURITY IN OUR STATES- NGF

The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) yesterday, presented an undisclosed sum of money to the Plateau State governor, Simon Lalong to assist the internally displaced persons in the state, lamenting the widespread violence across states in the country. NGF said they are determined to overcome insecurity so that the people do not rise up against them, saying the purpose of their visits to Plateau State is to commiserate with the state governor, Simon Lalong and the people of the state over the recent killings, which claimed more than 100 lives. Speaking on behalf of the governor, the forum chairman, Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State, disclosed that the last meeting the Forum had, was centered on issue of insecurity in states which seek to undermine the Nigerian state and called on security chiefs to rise up to their responsibility or they would be left with no option but to call for their replacements. Yari, who was accompanied by some state governors, noted that when he made the statement of not being addressed as the chief security officer of his state, it was because his hands were tied that when people were being killed by the marauders, security did not rise as expected, to defend them. “At the last meeting, we discussed issue of insecurity extensively as it is happening in almost every state. We condemn what happened in Plateau State and other states; we are looking at fighting on a common front, to defeat the challenges seeking to undermine the Nigerian state. “Between March and June in my state, we have had 115 incidents and 435 people lost their lives, our people are suffering. Within two hours, 235 people were killed, 80 found in one place. In Plateau State since 2012, this is the largest.’’

Courtesy: Leadership

'Abacha loot' to be given to poor Nigerians

Money looted by Nigeria's former military ruler Sani Abacha is to be distributed to poor families, the government says.

The distribution is to start next month after more than $300m (£228m) was returned by the Swiss authorities.

The money, stolen by Abacha in the 1990s, is due to be given to around 300,000 households, with each getting around $14 a month.

Critics fear the handouts could be a way to influence next year's election.

At this rate, the payments - to be made to residents in 19 of Nigeria's 36 states - should last for about six years.

The money was originally deposited in Luxembourg, and is a fraction of the billions of dollars allegedly looted while Abacha was in power from 1993 to 1998.

He ruled Nigeria with an iron fist until his sudden death on 8 June 1998 after an apparent heart attack.

President Muhammadu Buhari made the recovery of stolen assets a major part of his 2015 election campaign - he has said he will stand for re-election.

Switzerland is believed to have returned about $1bn to Nigeria over the last 10 years.

Last year, Roberto Balzaretti, one of the Swiss officials involved in the negotiations with Nigeria, told the BBC that there would be strict conditions attached to the transfer of the money back to Nigeria.

The money would be paid in instalments and in small amounts, to help poor people under the supervision of the World Bank with regular audits.

If the first instalment is not properly accounted for, subsequent payment will be halted. This is to prevent the funds from being stolen again, Mr. Balzaretti said.

Courtesy: BBC News

Britain and Nigeria exploring ways to list naira bonds in London - Lord Mayor

Britain and Nigeria are exploring ways to list naira-denominated bonds on the London Stock Exchange to help fund infrastructure projects in the West African country, the City of London’s Lord Mayor told Reuters.

Charles Bowman, who acts as an ambassador for the British capital’s financial district, made the comments during a three-day visit to Nigeria during which he held talks with the vice president, trade minister and representatives of both Nigeria’s stock exchange and central bank.

Nigeria, once a darling for frontier investors, suffered its worst recession in a generation in 2016 after the price of its main export - oil - collapsed. It has since recovered but growth is fragile, with dilapidated infrastructure holding it back. 

“We are looking at clever methods of essentially being able to list, by way of example naira-denominated bonds, but having those listed on the London Stock Exchange. Having local bonds with an access point into the London Stock Exchange,” said Bowman.

Bowman, speaking to Reuters in an interview in Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos, did not provide specific details of who had been involved in the talks, how advanced discussions were or when such a move could take place.

“We have a lot of capital in London but we don’t have the projects to support. Nigeria has lots of projects to support and not the capital - you are reliant on the banking structure,” said Bowman.

“Unleash the capital market, link London and Nigeria and what a great opportunity,” he said.

Britain voted in 2016 to leave the European Union, which has forced London to rethink its trade ties with the rest of the world. The United Kingdom and the EU struck an agreement in December that opened the way for talks on future trade ties.

“Nigeria is an example where in due course one would hope to have a profitable, pragmatic free trade agreement,” said the lord mayor.

His comments come after Britain in February said its export finance agency would add the naira to its list of “pre-approved currencies”, allowing it to provide financing for transactions with Nigerian businesses denominated in the local currency.

He said the finance agency has so far provided 20 million pounds to local businesses from its 750 million pound facility.

Britain is due to leave the EU in March next year, a month after presidential elections are scheduled to take place in Nigeria.

Bowman said peaceful elections next year could help boost Nigeria’s image abroad and attract the sort of capital badly needed in the West African nation to develop infrastructure and propel growth.

Courtesy: Reuters