By Shayla Papik –
The blood had barely dried on the palm fronds when the survivors began to count the dead, the latest of ongoing attacks by Muslims on Christians in Nigeria.
“These attacks are usually targeted and well-coordinated,” said Ezinwanne Onwuka, a reporter for Truth Nigeria. “These terrorists are bent on wiping out these Christian communities.”
While many assume the violence in Nigeria is a random byproduct of “common insecurity” or local farmer-herder disputes, investigators and local reporters warn of a far more systematic pattern that suggests genocide.
There are three Islamist groups that massacre Christians: Fulani herdsman, Boko Haram and ISWAP. According to World Watch List, Nigeria is in the top ten of countries that most persecute Christians.
Across Nigeria’s Middle Belt, religious holidays have become a predictable season for massacres, turning days of worship into days of mourning.
On Palm Sunday of this year, two deadly attacks struck Christian-populated areas in North Central and Northwestern Nigeria just hours apart. In the Plateau State capital of Jos, gunmen invaded the city between 7:00 and 8:00 p.m. local time. While official police reports cite 12 dead, local media and witnesses suggest the toll is as high as 40 victims.
Just three hours later, the violence shifted to neighboring Kaduna State. Bandits interrupted a wedding ceremony, killing 13 guests and abducting several others just minutes before midnight.
This latest tragedy follows a hauntingly similar attack on Palm Sunday in 2025, which claimed 54 lives. The pattern extends to other major religious milestones; during Christmas 2023, terrorists overran 15 communities in Plateau State, killing over 100 people and injuring 300 others in a single weekend.
“The level of mass killings and daily bloodshed being witnessed has gone beyond farmer crisis,” Onwuka says.
The strategy isn’t just to kill, but to displace. Attackers routinely burn houses and farmlands, leaving survivors with no choice but to flee to Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps. For many, these camps – often abandoned school buildings – become permanent homes as their ancestral lands are left in ruins.
The message is clear: the violence is designed to depopulate and destroy. As religious periods like Christmas and Easter approach, communities remain on high alert, knowing that for the perpetrators, these dates are not just holidays, but targets.
