By Emmanuel Thomas l Saturday, Sept 12, 2026
MAKURDI — The Catholic Bishop of Makurdi Diocese, Most Rev. Wilfred Chikpa Anagbe, has raised a grave alarm over the sustained armed attacks in Benue State, describing the escalating violence as a coordinated genocide aimed at eradicating the Christian population in the state.
Speaking on the worsening security crisis in North-Central Nigeria, the cleric stated that the agrarian state—where Christians constitute roughly 98 percent of the population—has morphed into one of the most dangerous regions in the country.
According to Bishop Anagbe, the operations of the armed attackers follow a systematic pattern designed to alter the demographic and religious composition of the agrarian belt.
”The total elimination of the Christian population is underway. A genocide at the hands of jihadists,” Bishop Anagbe declared.
He detailed a recurring tactical sequence used by the assailants: targeted killings of unarmed civilians, deliberate destruction of places of worship, burning of farmlands to induce starvation, and the eventual forcible ejection of indigenous populations from their ancestral homes.
“Once communities are displaced, the attackers permanently occupy the abandoned lands—a practice the cleric characterized as a “calculated strategy of Islamization.”
Highlighting specific atrocities, Bishop Anagbe cited the tragic massacre in Yelewata, a border community in the state. He recounted how armed assailants trapped terrified residents inside a structure before setting it ablaze.
”They burned everyone alive, including two babies aged three and five months,” he revealed, emphasizing the brutality targeting vulnerable non-combatants.
The allegations raised by the Makurdi Diocese reflect a broader security deterioration in Nigeria’s Middle Belt region that has drawn increasing international attention.
While the conflict is frequently framed as an environmental struggle over shrinking land and water resources between nomadic herders and sedentary farmers, religious leaders and human rights advocacy organizations argue that the scale, weaponry, and territorial occupation point to a deeper ideological and expansionist drive.
Statistical data from international bodies underscores the magnitude of the carnage across Nigeria. A 2024 European Parliament resolution cited estimates indicating that over 52,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria since 2009 due to targeted religious and ethnic violence.
Furthermore, the conflict has resulted in the destruction of approximately 18,000 churches and more than 2,200 Christian schools across affected regions.
Benue State, widely regarded as Nigeria’s “Food Basket,” bears a disproportionate burden of this violence.
The systematic destruction of agricultural lands in the state has not only created a massive humanitarian emergency—with hundreds of thousands of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) living in crowded camps—but also poses a critical threat to national food security.
Despite repeated assurances from federal security agencies and local authorities, community leaders maintain that security interventions remain insufficient to halt the incursions, reclaim occupied territories, or safely return displaced citizens to their ancestral homelands.
Bishop Anagbe’s outcry adds to the mounting pressure on both domestic authorities and international monitoring bodies to intervene and address the root causes of the crisis before the regional humanitarian situation collapses entirely.
