18 Farmers Killed, Several Injured in Fresh Attack on Plateau Communities

• Gunmen storm Kawel and Kopkon villages in Bokkos LGA, less than a week after traditional ruler was killed in same area.

No fewer than 18 farmers have been killed and several others injured after gunmen launched coordinated attacks on Kawel and Kopkon villages in Mushere District of Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State. The assault occurred late Sunday night, heightening concerns over escalating violence in the region and coming less than five days after the District Head of Gwande was killed in an ambush.

The attackers reportedly stormed the communities at about 11:30 p.m. on Sunday, opening fire indiscriminately on sleeping residents before fleeing the area as security operatives mobilised to the scene. Some accounts place the time of the attack as late as 1:20 a.m. on Monday. According to a security report cited by counter-insurgency analyst Zagazola Makama, troops of Sector 5 under Operation Enduring Peace responded to distress calls following the attacks. Upon arrival at the affected communities, security operatives recovered 12 bodies from Kawel village and six from Kopkon village, bringing the total number of fatalities to 18. Other reports, however, put the death toll as high as 19 or 21. Military sources said troops have since launched search operations across surrounding communities to track down and apprehend fleeing suspects.

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Confirming the incident, Christopher Luka, Bokkos Youth Leader, said he received information about the attack from a member of the youth council shortly after midnight. “A youth leader called around 12 a.m. that gunmen attacked the community and shot over 20 people, so 18 were confirmed dead,” Luka told journalists. He explained that he immediately alerted security personnel stationed in Bokkos. “I called the security and they confirmed to me that they had been alerted and were on their way to the attacked community,” he added. Luka described the attack as unprovoked and urged security agencies to take decisive steps to prevent further escalation of violence in the area. He called on security forces to intensify efforts to protect vulnerable communities in the local government area.

The latest incident comes less than five days after the District Head of Gwande in Bokkos LGA, Saf Samuel Alaket, was killed in an ambush along the Sha District axis bordering Daffo community. The traditional ruler was reportedly returning home from a traditional council meeting when he encountered the attackers. The renewed violence has deepened concerns over security in Bokkos and surrounding communities, which have witnessed recurring deadly attacks in recent months. In May, no fewer than 12 persons were killed in separate attacks on communities in Riyom and Bassa Local Government Areas, and in March, gunmen reportedly killed 27 residents in the Angwan Rukuba area of Jos North Local Government Area.

As of the time of filing this report, security agencies had yet to issue an official statement on the latest attack. Efforts to obtain comments from the spokespersons of the Plateau State Police Command and Operation Enduring Peace, SP Alabo Alfred and Captain Polycarp Auta, were unsuccessful as they had not responded to inquiries. Operation Enduring Peace has since intensified patrols and reinforced security presence in vulnerable parts of the state in response to the recurring incidents. The latest attack underscores the persistent security challenges confronting communities in Plateau State, where residents continue to call for a stronger security presence and decisive action to end the cycle of violence.

18 Farmers Killed, Several Injured in Fresh Attack on Plateau Communities

No Evidence of State-Sponsored Christian Persecution in Nigeria — UN Expert

• UN Special Rapporteur Nazila Ghanea says victims ‘understandably’ describe violence as persecution due to government’s failure to provide protection and justice

Nazila Ghanea, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, has concluded that there is no evidence of direct government-sponsored religious persecution in Nigeria following a 12-day fact-finding mission across the country. Speaking at the National Human Rights Commission in Abuja, Ghanea stated unequivocally that she did not observe “a direct government instruction… with an intentionality of destroying one religious community or another.” However, she warned that inadequate government response to security concerns, combined with a pervasive culture of impunity, is causing victims to view their experiences as persecution or genocide. During her visit from June 8 to 19, 2026, Ghanea and her team interviewed more than 200 stakeholders, including government officials, religious leaders, civil society groups, lawyers, academics, and victims of violence in Abuja, Kano, and Jos, and she found that virtually every discussion was dominated by concerns over security rather than formal religious discrimination.

The central theme of Ghanea’s preliminary findings was the devastating impact of impunity and lack of accountability, which she said has entrenched cycles of fear and violence and encouraged its spread, as many affected communities complained of inadequate protection by security agencies and the absence of justice after attacks, leading to declining public confidence in government institutions. “When, as a result of these crises, time and again, justice is not seen to be done, understandably, the victim starts to describe this as persecution, or genocide,” Ghanea explained, adding that when everything in one’s world has been reduced to dust, when religious leaders have been killed and places of worship destroyed, and when one has seen no action or inadequate prevention and justice from the authorities, then why would one think otherwise. The UN expert described a grim reality across Nigeria’s North-west and North-central regions, where communities are trapped in endless cycles of violence, detailing horrifying experiences reported to her team including mass arson attacks, mass displacement, kidnappings, destruction of places of worship and schools, and the total decimation of livelihoods, with some communities having been displaced multiple times over the past decade, forced to begin life afresh after each attack only to witness fresh killings and destruction.

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Ghanea noted that issues relating to religious freedom and tolerance were “overshadowed by the security concerns,” and “almost every interlocutor responded by talking about religious crisis and insecurity — and they frontloaded that.” While acknowledging that Christians have been singled out by jihadist groups, Ghanea stressed that Muslims are also constantly targeted and that conflicts often fall across religious lines while being driven by complex factors including land disputes, economic competition, climate pressures, and criminality, warning against simplistic characterisations of Nigeria as a “Muslim North” and “Christian South,” describing such narratives as reductive and polarising of the country’s rich pluralism. She also raised concerns about the growing reliance on vigilante groups and community self-help security arrangements, warning that the proliferation of armed groups could worsen insecurity rather than reduce it.

The UN Special Rapporteur acknowledged that Nigeria’s Constitution guarantees fundamental rights including freedom of thought, conscience and religion; freedom of expression; non-discrimination; and the rights to life and dignity, however, she drew attention to tensions arising at the state level within plural legal systems governing personal status matters, blasphemy, hate speech, and criminal punishments — laws introduced in northern states in the early 2000s. Ghanea also expressed concern over the continued requirement for citizens to disclose their religious affiliation in several official processes, including job applications, pension documentation, school admissions, and recruitment into the police and military, warning that such practices reinforce religious identity as a dominant organising principle of society and may encourage discrimination, though she welcomed reports that religion has been removed from applications for Nigerian passports and National Identification Numbers, describing the move as a positive development.

Ghanea’s visit came against the backdrop of politically charged accusations over Christian “persecution” that strained diplomatic ties last year, as the United States, under President Donald Trump, elevated such claims to the highest levels of government, with Trump at one point condemning what he called a Christian “genocide” in the country, though Washington and Abuja have since found common ground, launching a joint military campaign against jihadists. When asked about Trump’s genocide claims, Ghanea said she had spoken to “senior legal experts” who said: “‘I cannot say that genocide is not happening anywhere in Nigeria,'” however, she stressed that her own findings did not reveal a government policy of destruction against any religious community.

Despite the daunting challenges, Ghanea expressed measured optimism about Nigeria’s capacity to chart a better course, stating that there is no doubt that Nigeria has the expertise and experts as well as inspirational, committed youth to secure freedom of thought, conscience and religion for all on an equal basis, while also acknowledging that there is a long way to go until that is fully realised. She commended the resilience of victims, the vibrancy of Nigeria’s civil society, and the efforts of interfaith organisations and community peacebuilding initiatives working to promote peace and tolerance across the country. The Special Rapporteur is expected to present a comprehensive report with full findings and recommendations to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in March 2027, which will assess Nigeria’s compliance with international human rights standards and propose measures to guarantee religious freedom for all citizens on an equal basis.

No Evidence of State-Sponsored Christian Persecution in Nigeria — UN Expert