From Landowners to Refugees

The elders of Morok and Nghakudung villages in the Daffo District of Bokkos LGA, Plateau State, recently shared their harrowing journey. Their villages were brutally attacked in March 2018; many people were killed, properties were razed, and homes were destroyed. Those who survived were forced to flee for their lives.

For the past eight years, they have lived as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), struggling to survive. Every effort to return home has failed. There has been no government initiative to station security in their ancestral lands. Whenever they attempt to go back, they are met with fresh attacks and further loss of life.

Deception and Economic Sabotage

The cruelty of the attackers extends to the destruction of livelihoods. A few years ago, some of the people from the village made effort returned to farm their lands. The Fulani allowed them to tend to the crops until they were ready for harvest. However, just as the harvest approached, the herders moved in their cattle to graze, destroying the entire year’s labor.

The danger remains ever-present:

• In 2025: One of them returned to the village to cut wood and barely escaped with his life.
• In my office: These elders shared their sorrows, and we prayed together that God would grant them a way back to their land.

Despite reporting these matters to the Local Government and the District Head (who is himself from Morok), no help has arrived.

The Betrayal of Neighbors

Escalation in Mushere District (2025–2026)

The situation is mirrored across Bokkos LGA. Following the 2023 Christmas Eve attacks that killed over 300 people, more villages were sacked. In Mushere District, attacks began on May 29, 2025, and continued unabated until October 2025. Over 20 villages were destroyed.

While some residents returned following a brief increase in security, many villages remain occupied by the killers. Villages like Hokk, Kadim Kasa, Kadim Bisa, Nginak, Pankap, Njemut, Dulu, Deu, and Lwapang have no hope of return. The attackers have even renamed villages—Hokk has been renamed “Sabon Bauchi.”

Recent Targeted Killings

The government and security forces have failed to provide the protection necessary for people to reclaim and return to  their ancestral lands. Those who try often pay with their lives:

• October 2025: Five people went to Mbor to harvest ‘Acha’; four were killed, and only one escaped.
• January 22–25, 2026: Mr. Hassan and a friend went to check their banana plantation in Pankap. The terrorists pursued them; Hassan was killed, and his body was located by the villages who with the help of security went their to find him.
• February 4, 2026: Mrs. Tabitha Amos and 8  youths went to retrieve her pigs to sell for survival. They were ambushed; Mrs. Tabitha and three others were killed. No one dared to even retrieve their remains.
• Just am I am writing this piece today 10th Feb 2026, I receive the news of the brutal Killing of one Mr. Obadiah from Margit Mushere who was killed and his body burnt just by the garden, in a brought day light.

Conclusion

The people carrying out these killings are the Fulanis who lived side-by-side with these indigenous Christian communities. They are killing the very people who gave them land to graze. Without decisive action, these Christian communities will never be able to return to their homes.

Bishop Ayuba Matawal.