Archbishop Henry Ndukuba, primate of the Church of Nigeria, used his Easter sermon in Abuja’s Cathedral Church of the Advent to call for peace. His call followed a Holy Week that saw the violent deaths of more than 100 people in Christian villages across central Nigeria.
“The risen Lord, Jesus Christ, is the Prince of Peace who gives peace, brings humanity into reconciliation with God and with one another,” he said. “God is calling on us to be agents of peace.”
He added: “As we celebrate Easter in 2025, we must call to mind that we are celebrating in the context of a world that is broken and torn by … wars, violence, uncertainty, and fears.”
The primate alluded to the wars between between Russia and Ukraine and Israel and Hamas, but spoke directly to violence in Nigeria: “We stand with our brothers and sisters in Plateau, Benue, and other parts of the country, who did nothing to warrant the killings and destruction of lives and livelihood.”
According to Reuters reports, at least 51 people were killed by gunmen in the early hours of April 14 in Zikke and Kimakpa, villages in the Bassa District of Plateau State. Several villages in neighboring Benue State saw similar attacks later in the week, and the death toll there was estimated at 56 by April 19. Survivors of attacks in both regions claimed that the gunmen were Fulani cattle herders.
These are just the latest clashes across Nigeria’s Middle Belt region between a mostly Christian farming population and Muslim Fulani herders. Since 2019, Reuters claims that 500 people in the region have been killed and 2.2 million have been displaced.
Ethnic and religious tensions in the region span generations, but experts say the conflict is exacerbated by climate change, which has caused desertification in the nation’s Northern Sahel, the traditional homeland of the Fulani. The cattle herders have pushed south, in violation of bans on open grazing. The recent discovery of valuable lithium deposits in Plateau State has led to a rash of illegal mining and violence.
Boko Haram and other Islamic militant groups have reportedly armed some of the herders, and churches have sometimes been targets of violence. While the conflict is associated by many Nigerians with the expansion of Sharia in Northern Nigeria, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom claimed in 2020 “that religious ideology plays only a minor role in the motivations of most Fulani fighters, even those associated with jihadist groups.”
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a Muslim, sought to reassure the Middle Belt’s Christian population in his Easter greetings. “I have given clear directives to the Armed Forces and all relevant security agencies to end insecurity decisively and without delay,” he said. “Just as Christ triumphed over death, so too shall our country triumph over every challenge we face.”
Archbishop Ndukuba said he hoped for “an Easter of peace” this year.
“As we celebrate Easter, may the power of [Christ’s] resurrection be at work in our lives, homes, church of God, our nation, and the world at large,” he said. “In this world of brokenness, violence, uncertainties and fear, the risen Lord stands in our situations, and his peace be unto us.”
K.C. Nwajei is a freelance journalist based in Abuja, Nigeria.
