Pastor in Nigeria loses arm in attack by Muslim Fulani herdsmen

Chiqui Guyjoco Tuesday, July 26, 2016

A pastor in Nasarawa state of Nigeria lost his left hand to a Muslim Fulani herdsman who tried to kill him off, only days after another pastor's brutal murder.

Muslim ethnic Fulani herdsmen aim to violently overtake the fertile land of predominantly Christian towns in south of Nigeria | Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde

The 66-year-old pastor with the Nigerian Baptist Convention, Rev. Hamza Alkali, said a Muslim Fulani herdsman approached him as he worked on his farm in Sabon Gida village on July 7. He said he thought nothing at first when he saw the Fulani man but that it astounded him when the man asked to hand him his mobile phone. He told the Fulani man that he didn't have it with him but the man insisted to search him and then threatened to kill him.

"'You have no right or power to kill me,'" the pastor recounted to Morning Star News what he told the assailant. "'The God that created me and sent me to this place will not allow you to kill me.' I repeated these words twice to him."

The Fulani man then pulled his sword as the pastor instinctively covered his face with his hands. The sword cut his left arm in two before Rev. Alkali wrestled and seized the sword from the man who has since escaped.

As blood gushed out of his severed arm, Rev. Alkali shouted for help from Christian neighbors who took him to the police station and then to the Federal Medical Centre, Keffi.

An unprovoked attack by machete-wielding Muslim Fulani herdsmen also happened in another area of Nasarawa state only a few days earlier. Two attackers hacked to death Rev. Zakariya Joseph Kurah of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) in Lafia, who was also working at his farm when the attackers showed up and tried to run away.

"Every Christian that is passing through persecution should stand firm, as God will not abandon such a person," said Rev. Alkali, who credited God for his survival from the attack.

He warned that persecutors would ultimately have to face God and be held accountable for what they've done unless they turn to God now and repent for their sins.

"There are many out there who are victims of such attacks, and they are suffering," he added. "These armed Fulani men are killing innocent people in Nigeria. The best thing that needs to be done by the Federal Government of Nigeria is that it must act to end these atrocities against Christians. These killers should be stopped."