Genocide: CAN, Plateau Youth Coalition Raise the Alarm

Yemi Kosoko in Jos

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Plateau State Chapter, alongside a coalition of indigenous youth bodies, has issued a strong call for urgent international intervention over what it describes as a “systematic genocide” targeting Christian communities across Nigeria’s Northern and Middle Belt regions.

The position was presented at a joint press conference in Jos yesterday by Chairman of the Ropp Regional Church Council of the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN), Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo.

Rev. Dachomo, who spoke on behalf of the groups, said the briefing was necessitated by what he described as overwhelming evidence of coordinated attacks, mass killings, and displacement of Christian populations in several states. He said the documentation presented to journalists included community records, victim lists, district reports, and photographic evidence spanning more than two decades.

“I stand before you today not only as a pastor, but as a witness,” he said. “I have buried the murdered. I have lost my brethren, my blood relatives, and even my best friend. I have walked through burned villages and held services in destroyed churches.”

According to him, the violence often described in public discourse as farmer‑herder clashes, constitutes a deliberate campaign of extermination and land occupation. He alleged that some communities attacked in Plateau, Kaduna, and Benue states have been taken over and renamed by armed groups.

“This is not communal conflict. It is not a clash between farmers and herders,” he said. “It is a systematic, organised campaign to wipe out Christians from their ancestral lands.”

Rev. Dachomo referenced classifications by Genocide Watch, which has previously placed Nigeria at advanced stages of risk, and argued that the scale and pattern of attacks demand global attention.

The coalition  outlined some recommendations that include: immediate armed international intervention to protect vulnerable communities; official recognition by both Nigeria and the international community that genocide is occurring; decentralisation of policing and the adoption of community‑based security as well as the arrest and prosecution of perpetrators, return of occupied lands, and the creation of an international tribunal to investigate alleged crimes.

The groups emphasised that their call was not driven by retaliation but by a desire for justice and protection.

“We seek the right to exist, to worship, and to live in peace on the land of our ancestors,” Rev. Dachomo said.

“The world’s silence is being interpreted as consent.”

He added that the annexures submitted—such as the Dogo Nahawa/Dengburuk Massacre Documentation—represent “a mountain of evidence crying out for justice.”