A brutal attack by suspected Islamist Fulani militias on Palm Sunday has left at least 51 Christians dead in Nigeria’s Plateau State, sparking outrage among local communities and silence from much of the international community.
The coordinated assault targeted two predominantly Christian villages, with the worst carnage reported in Zikke village, Bassa County. Witnesses described a night of horror as gunmen stormed homes, setting them ablaze and killing entire families — including women, children, and the elderly — in what local leaders are calling a deliberate act of religious persecution.
Footage and survivor testimonies emerging from the region show charred remains of buildings and mass graves being dug as families mourn the loss of loved ones.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu issued a public condemnation of the attack and has called for an investigation into the incident. However, community leaders in Plateau State have criticized the government’s response as slow and ineffective, with some accusing authorities of longstanding negligence and even complicity in the ongoing violence against Christian communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt.
Despite the scale and religious nature of the massacre, international response has been notably muted. Unlike other global tragedies that have sparked protests and solidarity movements across the West, the killings in Zikke have not generated widespread media coverage, student demonstrations, or political statements in the US or UK.
“The silence is deafening,” said Reverend Jonah Gyang, a local pastor who lost multiple family members in the attack. “When Christians are slaughtered in Nigeria, the world looks away.”
The massacre highlights a grim pattern of attacks in the region, where clashes between nomadic Fulani militants and largely Christian farming communities have escalated in recent years, often fueled by ethnic, religious, and land-use tensions. Rights groups have repeatedly warned that these attacks amount to an underreported war against Christians in Nigeria.
