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From Jude Owuamanam Jos
Chairman of Ropp Regional Church Council of the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN), Rev Ezekiel Dachomo, has presented what he called incontrovertible evidence to support his claims that Christians are facing existential threats in Nigeria.
US President Donald, Donald Trump, had designated Nigeria as a country of special concern following allegations by Dachomo and other Christian leaders that Christians are facing genocide in Nigeria.
In joint press statement by Ezekiel Dachomo, Christian Association Of Nigeria (CAN), Plateau State Chapter And Coalition of Indigenous Youths Bodies Of Plateau State, Dachom said that he documents, included extensive annexures, including victim lists, district reports, photographic evidence, and official white papers, which detail attacks across multiple Local Government Areas in Plateau, Kaduna, and Benue states from 2001 through 2024.
Addressing newsmen at the NUJ Press Centre on Wednesday, Dachomo, who read the text of the press conference on behalf of the coalition, said that the harrowing testimony he presented was s based on firsthand experience and extensive documentation including the annexures.
He described the documents as graphic
Dachomo said, “This statement is supported by a vast archive of evidence—community records, victim lists, photographic documentation, and official reports—which we have compiled and refer to today. These annexures are not mere paper; they are the testament of the fallen and the displaced.
“I stand before you today not only as a pastor, but as a witness. I have buried the murdered. I have cried as a person because I have lost my brethren, my blood relatives and even my best friend. I have cried with the bereaved. I am enduring the trauma caused by the gory sights of charred human corpses I have seen. I have comforted widows and orphans. I have also been comforted.
“I have walked through burned villages and held services in burned churches with faith that the IDPs will return home only for the killer invaders to thereafter occupy those villages and rebuilt same- Google maps show how new the roofs of these occupied villages shine under the sun.
He said that the aim of this press briefing was to call for immediate international intervention to halt the violence and hold perpetrators accountable because Nigeria is signatory to international conventions on genocide.
“Even if Nigeria was not a signatory, customary international law places a burden on Nigeria to prevent and stop this genocide and even invite the international community to help it.
The world can no longer look away but must join hands with the United States in line with our common humanity. This is not communal conflict. And what I have seen happen is not a conflict. It is not a clash between farmers and herders. It is a systematic, organized campaign to wipe out Christians from their ancestral lands.
“It is a deliberate, coordinated campaign of extermination, land grabbing, and religious cleansing aimed at completely erasing the Christian presence from ancestral lands as names of villages are being changed by the invading jihadists after these attacks- something that never happened even in the former Sudan.
“This is genocide! This is genocide!! This is genocide!!!
We are being killed because we are Christians. Our villages are being emptied, renamed, and occupied by those who kill us and government is doing nothing about it.
“During the last administration, a federal government project was cited in one of such villages with the name the invaders gave the village after renaming it. Our churches and schools are burned to the ground. Our pastors are assassinated.
“Our daughters are forcefully married off as in the case of the Chibok girls. No Islamic cleric of note has spoken against what is happening- not the NSCIA, not the MURIC, not the JNI, not the MULAN, not JIBWIS, not the Emirs, not the Shehus, not the Sultans, not the Imams, not the Council of Ulamas.
“When the world took note of our voices, the silent Muslims began to say that they are also victims of these attacks but I am yet to see the kind of systematic killings taking place in Zamfara, Kebbi, Borno, Yobe, Sokoto or even Niger States as is done in Christians areas because most of the attacks in those states are against Christians or non-Fulani Muslims who bear Hausa, Fulani or Islamic names due to intercultural co-existence between those indigenous Christians such as the Isawa and Islam for centuries before the European and American missionaries came to Nigeria.
“In all these, the Nigerian government has failed, refused or is handicapped to protect us. The Nigerian government no longer has the monopoly of violence but now shares this exclusive preserve with non-State actors some of whom are not Nigerians.
“And when we protect ourselves, we are arrested, prosecuted in Court and convicted as seen in the case of Sunday Jackson in Adamawa State.
He acknowledged Sunday Jackson, the Christian farmer earlier referenced who was convicted after defending himself against an armed attack, has been released following intense global advocacy for justice and granted a pardon by the Governor of Adamawa State,
He described the news of his release as welcoming.
