Msgr. Wilfred Anagbe, Bishop of Makurdi, denounces jihadist violence in Nigeria to SIR: “It is genocide. They want to Islamise the country. They kill even newborn babies, burn men and women alive. The Church remains alongside its people with Masses, confessions, aid, and emergency education for displaced children”
“The situation is very precarious, dangerous, I would say without hesitation. Attacks against Christian communities have become a recurring, almost daily fact. Sometimes these attacks continue for an entire week and we receive no help. The government of Nigeria seems not to understand, or lives in a state of denial.” Msgr. Wilfred Chikpa Anagbe, Bishop of Makurdi, the Christian heart of the Middle Belt, recounts with a steady voice what is happening in his country. A silent genocide that has for years been tearing apart entire rural communities. According to the Bishop, everything began in the early 2000s with the emergence of Boko Haram in the North-East:
“They said Western civilisation is evil. They started destroying schools and churches, displacing entire Christian communities. They kidnapped the Chibok girls. More than ten years have passed and many of them have still not been freed.”
When the world recognised Boko Haram as a terrorist group, explains Anagbe, the violence fragmented into other militias:
“The bandits occupied the North-West, while the Fulani terrorist herdsmen took control of the North-Centre, spreading the same terror, with the same objectives and tactics.”
(Foto SIR)
Unprecedented devastation
The tragedy today is measured by devastating numbers: “In my diocese, between 2018 and 2025, I have lost about 19 parishes and a convent. I have had to close hospitals and clinics because of the violence of the Fulani terrorist herdsmen. They attack people; some are killed, others flee to displaced persons’ camps, but then they can no longer return to their lands, to their farms, to their lives. It is difficult even to carry out my episcopal ministry, because the parishes are emptying and the priests and religious have to be transferred or live as refugees with their people.” The objective of the aggressors is clear:
“They want to Islamise Nigeria, to transform it into the Islamic State of West Africa. It is a jihad, a war of ethnic cleansing, a genocide. When they attack a village, they massacre even newborn babies. What is their crime?”
The Bishop recounts the horror of Yelwata, where between 13 and 14 June 2025, over 200 people were burned alive in their homes, “doused in petrol and set alight, roasted like animals. This is genocide.”
The Church alongside its people
The tragedy also touches his personal life. His native village, Aondona, was recently attacked. “It is devastating. We have been living this reality for twenty years, but in the last decade it has intensified. That day they came at 6pm and killed over twenty people. I had to close the clinic and secondary school in my village. The parish priest and five nuns fled into the bush, remaining hidden until 2am. Thanks be to God none of them were harmed, but it is a suffering that cannot be described.” Yet the Church does not cease to be alongside the people:
“We do everything possible to care for the spiritual and material needs of our people. The first thing they seek is God. The presence of priests gives them a little hope. We celebrate Masses in the camps, offer confessions, listening, psychological support to avoid unhealable trauma.”
The Bishop cites the help of the Nigerian Bishops’ Conference, some local dioceses, and Aid to the Church in Need, which supports emergency education for displaced children: “We have over 200 young people hosted in boarding schools, so that they may have some sense of life and of the future.” He also recalls the support of Hungary: “With its limited resources, it has always stood by us.”
The horror of Yelwata
In the night between 13 and 14 June 2025, a Fulani militia attacked Yelwata, a village 7 kilometres from Makurdi, killing between 150 and over 200 Christian civilians – women, children, and refugees – with rifles and arson, according to local sources and Genocide Watch. Survivors also fear cholera and typhoid due to contaminated water and burned bodies left in markets and fields.
An appeal to Europe
Msgr. Anagbe firmly rejects those who attribute the violence to climate conflicts or disputes between farmers and herders: “It is not the climate. It is not a conflict of interests. It is a direct attack on innocent citizens. They want to plunge the Quran into the ocean and make Nigeria an Islamic state.” To the Italian Church and to Europe he makes an appeal:
“Stand firm with us in prayer, trusting that God will hear our cry. But that is not enough: be our advocates, denounce this evil. Too many leaders want to be politically correct and remain silent, but this is genocide.”
“Like in Rwanda in 1994: the world remained silent and 800,000 people were killed. If we ignore this crisis, we will witness another genocide, with 230 million Nigerians fleeing. It would be chaos for the whole of West Africa.” Finally, a word of thanks to the Pope: “I thank Pope Leo XIV who on 15 June called things by their name. His words comforted me. I know we are not alone. But if Nigeria falls into anarchy, it will disintegrate. It is time for the world to rise up.”
