My wife and child are now with God

In May 2023, the Christian communities of Mangu, Plateau State, Nigeria, experienced brutal attacks that left hundreds of mostly Christian villagers dead and tens of thousands displaced. The perpetrators spoke Fulani, shouted Islamic war cries and were recognized as being from the herder communities seasonally migrating through this area. The event irreversibly changed Pastor Z’s life.

“We lived a peaceful life in our community before this attack, working and living together with the Fulani… they even came to our houses to eat food, even sleeping over sometimes. We continued to live in peace with each other up until that day in May; I had just returned from a journey when I found out there was an attack [on our village]”, pastor Z slowly recalls.

On the evening of 15 May 2023, Fulani militants stormed pastor Z’s village at around 12:20 am.

“When I heard about what was happening, I tried calling people on the phone, but their lines weren’t reachable.”

When he finally made it back the next morning, he found people salvaging what they could from their homes and fleeing. “When I reached the village that morning, I noticed that the people were trekking in the opposite direction. Most of them were bare foot, their bodies full of mud.” Later he learned that many of those that had managed to evade the attackers, “had to crawl to be able to escape the attack.”

He was not prepared for the destruction he found. “…I met those who were injured and saw the bodies of the victims of the attack on the road…all I could see were burnt houses around, including my house which was completely burnt down with everything inside. I searched to see if I could find my wife or children, but I could not find them, so I checked the rooms and went out, only to find their lifeless bodies in the kitchen (hut) outside. I felt devastated,” he slowly recalls. It is as if the scenes of that day are seared into his memory, playing out like a photo slideshow of a crime scene.

“That day I cried like never before, it was on that day I knew that death was truly painful.”

“When I saw her [my wife’s] body, I remembered the life I lived with her. We went out preaching together in the northeastern region, we opened churches together. When we established a church, I would move to another church while she handled the previous one, continuing to encourage the members. We did everything together, we walked hand in hand with each other, we did not have any problems.”

God is not perplexed by our complexity

While what happened in Mangu is part of a complex matter (see side bar), it not so complicated for Christians like Pastor Z who are constantly on the receiving end of these onslaughts. “My own opinion of why I feel we were attacked is firstly because it was their wish for us to be converted to Islam. Secondly, they were thinking that by chasing us out of the community they will have a place to farm and feed their cows.”

Since the attack he says that he and many of the villagers are struggling to start over. “This attack really affected us personally, we lost our houses and clothes.” Most, if not all these Christians are subsistence farmers, and not even the small patches of land intended to feed their families are left untouched. “We are not even able to go to our farms unless we go there early in the morning, before noon we end up leaving for our own safety. They come with their cows and feed them with our crops.”

Despite it all pastor Z remains committed to being a shepherd to God’s people.

“I tell my members and my children that they should hold on to God dearly because death does not only come when you fall ill, it can come in the form of an accident and attack… We lost a lot of people… I continue to encourage them that everyone should know that when it is your time, nothing can change that. Be close to God and make him your Saviour so that when you die you will continue to stay with him.”

Reassurance in Healing

Though the now single father is a mature believer, no one can be fully prepared to handle this kind of loss and trauma. “Honestly, it has affected me a lot, since this incident, no matter what I am doing, I will always remember what we went through. Even when I am praying, I get lost thinking of the incident.”

Throughout it all he continues serving, trying to encourage believers to remain firm in their relationship with God. “I always try to bring our people together so that we can fellowship together, but some of them seem to feel that God is not even helping us, because they feel if God can help us why did he let these things happen to us?”

These attacks, whether intentionally or unintentionally, impact a believer’s walk with Christ and confront them with questions around the value of faith.

“Honestly when this attack took place I felt as if God had forsaken me, because I said if God is in control why would He allow these people to cause this kind of attack on us? Where is He that He will not take charge of the situation, He has the power to kill them but decides not to.”

ServAfrica partners have been offering support to the Christians in Mangu. “I learned a lot from the counselling and trauma healing for affected individuals. I learned that God allows some atrocities to happen to us in his own time. I learned to forgive those who brought this attack on us. This teaching has encouraged me greatly because right now I am asking God to forgive them, and for them to enter the Kingdom of God and not to die in their sins just as the bible has told us…I could not sleep before as my thoughts kept going back to the attacks that took place, but since I came for this program now my mind is at rest.”

At least 36,683 people, made up of around 3,683 families according to field partners are displaced in Mangu alone. While the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has distributed some relief aid, the sheer scale of the displacement has made it impossible to reach everyone. OD Field partners also share that the sheer need exceeds this year’s relief aid budget and thus only trauma care has been provided to some believers like pastor Z.

Thanksgiving and counsel

“The reason I give thanks is because God knows everything, He allowed them [my family] to go because it was their time, God decided to call them home.”

“For those who have found themselves in similar situations with that which we have experienced, my prayer is that we should rely on God because He is everything we live for. If we turn our attention away from God, we will see Him as someone who cannot help us, but if we believe He can do all things then we will not be broken.”

He also shares scripture from John 14 that has encouraged his faith in God through his grief. “I will go and prepare a place for you, and I will come and take you with me when I am done, for where I am is where I want you to be also. Where I am going, you know the road. Then Thomas said to him, dear Jesus Christ we do not know where you are going, how will we know the way? And Jesus replied unto him, I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the father except through me.’”

“This scripture has encouraged me because Jesus went to prepare a place for us and I am confident that my wife, my son, and my members who have gone are resting together with Him. We who are still here are waiting for when the Lord will come to carry us and take us home with Him. This scripture really encourages me because I know there is a place waiting for me.”