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In a chilling testimony that has reverberated from Washington to the heart of Nigeria’s Middle Belt, Bishop Wilfred Chikpa Anagbe of Makurdi has once again sounded the alarm, warning U.S. lawmakers that Christian communities are facing what he describes as a systematic genocide. Speaking on November 2, 2025, at 5:38 PM local time, the bishop detailed a decade-long pattern of violence that he says has gone unchecked, fueled by official silence and inaction.
This wasn’t Anagbe’s first appearance before the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa. He testified on February 14, 2024, and returned on March 12, 2025, alongside Father Remigius Ihyula, presenting evidence of coordinated attacks by ethnic Fulani militants on farming communities in Benue and neighboring states. The clerics cataloged mass killings, kidnappings, church burnings, and the seizure of farmlands—crimes they say have displaced thousands and claimed over 1,000 Christian lives in recent months alone. Over the past decade, some 160 churches have been destroyed, with vast tracts of land now occupied by attackers.
The bishop accused elements within the Nigerian state of a “conspiracy of silence,” alleging that official inaction has effectively advanced an Islamist agenda in the region. Their public pleas, he said, provoked furious backlash, including death threats from extremist actors and those with alleged links to government circles. In April 2025, several foreign embassies warned Anagbe that returning to Nigeria could put his life at risk. Abuja’s Foreign Ministry denied complicity but promised an investigation.
Tragically, the warnings proved prescient. Between May 24 and 26, 2025, attackers struck Aondona, Bishop Anagbe’s home village, killing dozens—estimates range from 42 to over 70—and displacing hundreds. Observers described the assault as retribution for his Washington testimony. More violence followed: between June 1 and 13, 2025, coordinated raids across Gwer West, Apa LGAs, and at Yelewata near Makurdi left over 300 civilians dead, many reportedly burned alive. Security agencies had received early warnings but initially downplayed the Yelewata carnage until viral footage exposed its scale.
During the Lenten and Holy Week period this year, Benue saw further bloodshed, with over 90 Christians killed in separate attacks. To date, no militia leader tied to these mass killings has been held accountable.
The pattern echoes earlier tragedies. After the Jos massacres that claimed over 271 lives, a suspected Fulani leader appeared on television to set conditions for stopping the violence, including the removal of a senior military commander. When the commander was later relieved of duty, critics argued it raised troubling questions about the state’s willingness to confront violent actors.
Bishop Anagbe has been unflinching: these are not isolated clashes or simple criminality, but a coordinated campaign aimed at destroying Christian communities across large swathes of the Middle Belt. While Muslim civilians have also suffered in the region, human-rights monitors and religious leaders maintain that the recent pattern reflects organized, targeted attacks on Christians.
He has urged independent verification and international attention, insisting that the facts—the bodies, the burned churches, the seized lands—demand scrutiny and action. As Benue reels from wave after wave of violence, the bishop’s voice remains a defiant call for justice in a crisis that shows no signs of abating.
