Children murdered in Plateau State
Three teenage boys were attacked and killed in Plateau State yesterday (6th August). Two were 17 years old, the third was 15. Two others were injured in the attack, one aged 14 and one aged 20. All these boys were from the same community. Extensive damage costing upward of 9 million Naira (US$6,000) was also caused to property belonging to the community.
Unfortunately, this type of attack is all too frequent in Plateau State and stories of attacks and killings regularly hit the Western media. Solutions are desperately needed for the ongoing violence affecting every community.
Most of the stories that reach the west concern attacks on Christian communities. The Christian west is very concerned about attacks on churches, attacks on Christian farmers, attacks on Christian villages – and these attacks are very concerning and must stop.
However, the story that is less told in the West is the suffering of people in Nigeria from other faiths. Reasons for this include things like those from other faiths have less allies in the West who will listen and tell their story, or those telling these stories do not speak English so even when they do share online, their story is not accessible to Westerners.
But for Christians following Jesus, all suffering matters, regardless of the ethnicity of the victim, regardless of the religion of the victim. True Christianity should make life better for everyone, both Christians and non-Christians alike.
The Bible teaches that every single human is fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14) in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). That God loves us with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3), even before we knew Him personally, that each life is precious to God (John 3:16), regardless of where we come from, regardless of our occupation, regardless of what language we speak. Jesus also said that his followers would be recognised by their love (John 13:35).
Three teenage boys from the same community were killed in Plateau state this week, two others were injured. A whole community thrown into grief at the loss of these children. Mothers distraught with grief, fathers angry and upset, young siblings and friends confused and scared. Concerned relatives and friends trying to care for the injured and help with the massive losses of property. This matters to God. He sees, he knows, he cares for the broken-hearted (Psalm 34:18). This should matter to Christians too, as we mourn with those who mourn (Romans 12:15).
Trauma is trauma, grief is grief, no matter who is suffering. Those suffering need our prayers, our concern, our support, our activism towards preventing violence. These children who were killed were from the ethnic people group called Fulani. The loss of property that the community suffered was 14 cows killed and 4 injured. The families affected are Muslims. Yes, Christians are suffering in Plateau State, but Muslims are suffering too. All suffering matters to God. All violence must end. All people must be able to live in peace and harmony. Nigerians need to stand together against those perpetuating violent attacks, not against whole religions or whole ethnic groups. Christians in the west need to care for the needy and suffering from every community, not just Christian communities.
This week, let’s pray for the families of Ismail Idris (15), Hamza Aminu (17) and Jafar Umar (17) as they mourn the death of their children. Let’s pray to God for Agon Ibrahim (14) and Abdullahi Buhari (20) that their physical wounds would be healed and they would know the comfort and presence of God in their trauma. Let’s turn our anger and horror into prayer and concern for all people suffering, regardless of ethnicity or religion, and let’s stand together from every tribe, nation and language against those doing violent acts, not against one another.
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