?Says Christians attacked, houses razed, men slaughtered, lands taken

By Marie-Therese Nanlong

Reverend Dunka Gomwalk is the Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, in Plateau State. In this interview, Gomwalk speaks on violent attacks in the state in view of threats by President Donald Trump to intervene in the crisis.

President Trump has expressed concern about the killing of Christians in Nigeria and threatened military action if the Nigerian government fails to act. Do you agree that Christians are being persecuted in Nigeria?

A large portion of the natives of the Middle Belt are Christians. We also have Christians who are native to and resident in the North and North West of Nigeria. There are challenges that are peculiar to Christians living in these areas that are real and cannot be swept under the carpet. So yes, in some particular areas or parts of this country where Christians are domiciled, there is real and present persecution and discrimination against Christians that live there.

In Plateau and Benue States for instance, Christian communities are being systematically attacked, houses razed to the ground; men, women, and children slaughtered and their ancestral lands literally occupied by armed militia. This is a verifiable and proven reality. There is hardly a day that goes by without silent, unreported killings taking place. This is the unfortunate reality we live with; when death and terror becomes as common as your next door neighbour.

Can you explain in detail how these killings have taken place?

Most of the attacks are coordinated attacks on innocent, unarmed and unassuming people. The common trend is surprise military style invasions on targeted areas at night when people are sleeping and most vulnerable. Houses are invaded, people are hacked and butchered like animals, houses are razed to the ground with fire and people running out of their houses in confusion gunned down. Even babies, toddlers and little children are not spared. Stored food is stolen or burnt to ashes. In some cases these targeted areas are given advanced notice by way of anonymous letters written to community leaders of the attackers? dubious intentions.

Who are those suspected to be responsible for these attacks?

In almost all cases, the descriptions of those that manage to survive such attacks is that the people are tall, slim and speak foreign languages. Many also testify that they hear the attackers speaking the Fulani dialect and in some cases the Hausa language. These seem to be the consistent testimony from survivors of these heinous attacks.

Some people argue that people of all faiths are being killed and that it is wrong to say only Christians are targeted. What is your view?

Again we need to be very specific and accurate when responding to such questions. It is true that people of all faiths are being killed but we need to be clinical in our diagnosis of this matter.

In the North-West of Nigeria, we could argue in a sense that a majority of people attacked and killed by these marauders and militia are Muslims. But the militia members doing the carnage are not Christians, they are Muslims. It is Muslims, though extremists, killing Muslims, not Christians killing Muslims. In the North East of Nigeria, Christians in large numbers are also affected by this carnage. When we look critically at the numbers, people being killed, villages being overrun and occupied by these armed groups, the numbers overwhelmingly lean towards the Christian populace being most affected. It is important to note in all our analysis of this unfortunate state of affairs, that nowhere do we find Christians taking up arms and being the aggressors. I stand to be corrected on this matter.

Do you support President Trump?s decision to consider sending troops to Nigeria?

I am not sure by the remarks I read President Trump meant that he would actually send troops to Nigeria. Rather than focus on what we presume President Trump will do or not do, I believe we ought to squarely face the fact that we have a serious problem in Nigeria that we don?t seem capable to fix. We can?t continue to play ostrich to that fact. We must develop the political will to end this cycle of carnage. The truth is that this situation for some reason has clearly overwhelmed our country.

At this point in time, I feel we should take advantage of all the help we can get from anywhere we can get it. Our leaders should seriously engage the United States diplomatically and show responsible cooperation with them and the will to actually bring this carnage to an end.

If we as a nation were showing responsible action in dealing with this security situation with results, no foreign nation would have the moral justification to consider any intervention of the sort the President of the United States of America is considering in the first place.

Do you think foreign intervention would help solve the problem?

I most certainly believe that foreign intervention and collaboration with our country would help solve the security situation we have. We are clearly overwhelmed.

In view of this development, what should the Nigerian government do immediately?

The Nigerian government should immediately engage the United States of America diplomatically and demonstrate the political will and resolve to do what it takes to tackle this problem from the root.

The United States of America is the world leader in intelligence gathering and most likely is speaking about the Nigerian security situation from a place of precise information. Nigeria needs to clearly reposition herself and demonstrate the political will and sincerity to deal with this issue once and for all. It is a time when actions must speak louder than words; we need to walk the talk now and stop just talking the talk.

Beyond security operations, what conflict-resolution mechanisms can be applied to end the recurring attacks in the Middle Belt?

There can never be peace without justice. Conflict resolution is the fruit of productive conversations. Conversations are meaningless when sincerity is not perceived by the dissenting parties. Dissenting groups must keep talking to one another because when communication ceases, conflict resolution is not in sight; but people must come to the table of conversation with sincerity of purpose. I believe there are still sincere men of peace and reason in every dissenting group.

Can you identify the areas in your state that have been most affected?

In Plateau State, Bokkos, Riyom, Bassa, Barkin Ladi, Mangu are some of the Local Government Areas that have been most affected by these attacks in recent times.

What is your final word to Nigerians and the global community?

Nigeria is a great country with great potential; however, our greatest challenge seems to be the lack of political will to do the needful to resolve our greatest challenges. We do not need foreign intervention if we can muster the political will and courage to do what we know we need to do to nip our security challenges at the bud.

At this moment in time and in our history, actions must speak louder than words. When the international community sees us taking tangible, proactive steps in the right direction, they would take us more seriously. One of such proactive steps would be to begin to hold people accountable for the criminal actions in this regard. When people are seen to be apprehended, prosecuted and punished for their crimes, the world and even our citizens would start taking the Nigerian government seriously. I appeal to the global community to continue to partner and collaborate with Nigeria in our fight to overcome our present challenges.

Every great nation in the world went through teething stages. America is going to be 250 years as a nation and democracy in 2026, they didn?t evolve overnight. They also had their teething problems and challenges in nation building. The global community should see Nigeria as a work in progress. Nigeria?s greatness shall surely emerge, God helping us.

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