There is a tiny Orthodox community among the 50% of Nigerians who are Christian. All of the Christians of the nation are vulnerable to sudden and unexpected outbreaks of violence such as this one. Targeting the Christians are both the Islamic militant group Boko Haram and Muslim Fulani herdsmen. Bishop Stephen Mamza, the state chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, has said that Christians are being “killed by these so-called herdsmen on a daily basis, without security forces responding appropriately to stop them from hurting Christians.” Mamza warned that the “incessant attacks on Christians has led to hunger and starvation” and said that “if these Christians are not aided many will die of starvation.”
“Dozens of Christians Killed in Muslim Attack on Market in Kaduna State, Nigeria,” Morning Star News, October 22, 2018:
Nigeria (Morning Star News) – Muslims attacked a market in Kaduna state, in north-central Nigeria, on Thursday (Oct. 18), killing dozens of Christians and burning a church building, sources said.
Area residents said a Muslim at the market in Kasuwan Magani, 36 kilometers (22 miles) south of the city of Kaduna, began yelling “Thief!” in the late afternoon in a move calculated to cause pandemonium ahead of an attack on Christians and their homes and businesses.
“A Muslim raised a false alarm about a thief in the market, which caused stampede, and then other Muslims started chanting ‘Allahu Akbar [the jihadist slogan, God is Greater],’ attacking Christians, burning houses and shops belonging to Christians in the town,” area resident Kefas Mallam told Morning Star News.
The Rev. James Moore of the town’s Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), told Morning Star News that the assailants burned down one church building belonging to the Cherubim and Seraphim movement.
“There was an alert of a thief in the market,” he said. “When people heard ‘Thief! Thief!’ they were confused and started running. Unknown to the people, it was a strategy by the Muslim youth to attack the people. They went into killings, looting and burning.”
Moore, who is the area district secretary of the ECWA, said it was difficult to give a definitive casualty figure as the town was in complete lockdown following imposition of a 24-hour curfew the night of the attack. Kaduna Gov. Nasir El-Rufai visited the site in the Kajuru Local Government Area on Friday (Oct. 19) and said 55 people had been killed.
“According to what the police have briefed me so far, 55 corpses have been recovered; some burned beyond recognition,” he said.
Local press reported the violence began as an attack by young men attacking the market that escalated into a clash between “two youth groups of different religion.”…
Area Muslims also attacked Christians on Feb. 26. Luke Waziri, a Christian community leader in Kasuwan Magani, told Morning Star News by phone that during the February attack, 12 Christians were killed.
“And 67 other Christians arrested after that incident are currently facing trial in a court in the city of Kaduna,” he added, lamenting that they were detained without cause by police under the direct control of a Muslim inspector general of police and a Muslim police commissioner.
“The sad thing is that the police are aware that Muslims in Kasuwan Magani have accumulated weapons with the intent to continually attack us, but they are unable to arrest these Muslims,” Waziri said….
