A pastor was abducted, his wife was injured, and a Christian security guard was killed in a tragic attack Sunday, purportedly carried out by Fulani herdsmen, members of a predominately Muslim group known to target Christians.
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The Rev. Bung Fon Dong of the Christ of Church in Nations was taken Sept. 11, and his wife was shot and wounded during the assault, according to a local resident. Tragically, a church member named James Ngyang was also reportedly slain. The assault unfolded in Ganawuri, Riyom County, Plateau state.
“Armed gunmen we believe are Fulani terrorists attacked Ganawuri and abducted the Rev. Bung Fon Dong alongside James Mann, who later escaped from the hands of the kidnappers,” Danjen Bagu Gang told Morning Star News. “The gunmen stormed the RCC [Regional Church Council] chairman’s residence at about 10 p.m., shot and wounded the pastor’s wife, and killed one James Ngyang, a member of the church and security church worker.
The assailants then “forcefully took away the pastor at gunpoint.” According to Gang, the militants who took the preacher reached out to his family a day later, asking for a ransom amounting to $46,650.
Government officials have spoken out about the kidnapping and said they are working to track down the criminals responsible and recover the pastor, Morning Star News reported.
According to Open Doors USA, the Hausa-Fulani Muslim Herdsman comprises about 38 million people who speak various languages and are nomadic. Members of the group have varying degrees of adherence to Islam. Find out more about the Fulani:
Other alarming attacks have recently unfolded throughout Nigeria, including a Sept. 7 assault by suspected Fulani herdsmen that left three Christian women shot and injured. In a separate incident, a group of Christians — including a pastor’s son — were also kidnapped Sept. 4.
And these cases only begin to tell the story of what’s unfolding in Nigeria. As Faithwire previously reported, a Christian woman was reportedly murdered last month while cleaning her church.
Lyop Dalyop was purportedly sweeping and cleaning Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) on Aug. 27 in the Plateau state when she was shot and killed by suspected Fulani herdsmen. Separately, in July, a Nigerian pastor and his sons were attacked in the Adamawa state, an area known for Islamic extremism.
And an attack on a church on Pentecost Sunday in Nigeria in early June killed at least 50 people, with militants using guns and bombs.
Violence in Nigeria broke through the international news cycle in May, when Deborah Emmanuel Yakubu, a 25-year-old Christian college student, was stoned to death by a Muslim mob.
Yakubu, a Shehu Shagari College of Education student in Sokoto, Nigeria, was murdered May 12, and the violent attack was purportedly filmed and shared on social media, horrifying the international community.
“We have videos, we have photos which I’ve seen, unfortunately,” Joel Veldkamp, head of international communications at persecution watchdog Christian Solidarity International (CSI), told CBN’s Faithwire earlier this year.
She was killed over comments purportedly made on WhatsApp, a messaging app.
“She was in a WhatsApp group that was dedicated to studies at her school,” Veldkamp explained. “Someone asked her in this group how she got such a good score on a test, and she replied, ‘Jesus.’”
This reportedly angered Muslims in the group, who negatively reacted. Yakubu then purportedly left a voice message saying the Holy Spirit would protect her and that the WhatsApp group’s purpose was for schooling, not “religious nonsense,” as Veldkamp explained. She was subsequently murdered.
Despite Christianity being vibrant in many parts of the country, Nigeria’s northern region has experienced an uptick in extremist attacks against believers.
As Faithwire previously reported, Open Doors USA’s 2022 World Watch List ranks Nigeria the seventh most dangerous place in the world to live as a Christian.
Pray for Dong and his family and for general peace and stability in Nigeria.
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