A witness to the massacre, where more than 300 lives were lost in Plateau, has disclosed the harrowing details of the incident.
The terrorists, riding 50 motorcycles, reportedly invaded the residence of Reverend Jonathan of the Assemblies of God’s Church in NTV on Christmas Eve.
The Reverend and his church members were preparing food for the upcoming celebration of Jesus’ birth when the tragedy unfolded.
Contrary to initial reports stating that 195 people were killed across 17 communities, an anonymous source, speaking exclusively to Parallel Facts, asserted that the death toll exceeded 300.
The source revealed that 10 individuals were fatally shot at Reverend Jonathan’s house, while in one community alone, more than 150 lives were lost.
Furthermore, the source added that more villages were attacked, resulting in hundreds of casualties, which she believes went unreported by some Nigerian media outlets.
“On the eve of Christmas, that’s on December 25, 2023, some people were in the pastor’s house, reverend Jonathan, who is the reverend in assemblies of God’s church in NTV, and they heard three gunshots from another direction that was close to a checkpoint, and then one of them called to ask what was happening, and then nobody responded. The next thing they saw like 30–50 motorcycles coming with light.
“The community is structured in a way that they all live together, close to a checkpoint. At the end of the community, there are settlers that live there, so when the motorcycles came in, there were massive gunshots from the direction where the settlers were.
“Those that came to the reverend’s house preparing for Christmas Eve and the church were shot; even the glasses of the church was stained with blood.
“The Fulani terrorists came in from the settler’s direction and were shooting some. You could see pools of blood from the victims who were trying to run.
“In that community, 7 people were killed; some of them were women, and 2 were men; one was 10 and the other was 5 in age; two siblings were killed; one was a student of Plateau State University, an old man in his 80s; and the Reverend himself was killed. In total, there were 10 people from NTV in particular, while from Mangu, there were close to 400 people who were killed.
“When the villagers were massively attacked and they tried to run, the Fulani pursued many people, and dead bodies were found in different locations.
“One of the victims’ heads was cut off after 2 days. The father was called to come carry the dead body, and he was buried.
“The men moved their wives and children to IDP camps
“The Fulani’s targeted the community’s food barns; where every single barn was burned down, you could still see the remnants of maize and soy beans that they burned down,” she said.