YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon – At least twenty Christians have been killed in Nigeria’s Taraba State in 24 hours in what is seen as the worsening specter of Christian persecution in the West African country.

Reports say Fulani herdsmen stormed homes and places of worship in multiple settlements in the Wukari Local Government Area between November 9-11.

Truth Nigeria described the attacks as “coordinated” with the attackers firing “indiscriminately into houses.”

“I was preparing to go for Mass early in the morning around 6 a.m. when I heard the sound of motorcycles,” Christiana Joseph, a 33-year-old farmer from Amadu village, told TruthNigeria.

“I was in the kitchen when they stormed into our compound, surrounding it and shooting into the main house,” Joseph said.

“They fired for about five minutes, shouting Allahu Akbar. When the gunfire stopped, I went inside and found my husband of 14 years, John Joseph, already dead,” she added.

Father George Dogo of the Holy Family Cathedral said bodies were still being removed from the rubble, a signal that the dead toll could mount.

The Director of the International Society of Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law, Intersociety, Emeka Umeagbalasi, said that at least 78 people have been killed across Nigeria within the same period. In addition, thousands of Christians are still held captive in several forest camps in several states.

“Hundreds of Christians, up to 800, are still being held in the Rijana forest camp despite the proximity of that place to about two military camps,” Umeagbalasi told Crux.

He further identified additional locations, including “another one called the Sule Keneko camp, where Fulani herdsmen are holding Christians,” and camps near “Danjuma farms in the Wukari area of Taraba state.”

Umeagbalasi painted a picture of systemic persecution that he says has escalated in recent weeks.

“In Enugu, at least 14 parishes have been under consistent attacks since 2021,” he said.

These include twelve Anglican and two Catholic parishes in the Nhamufu region, which borders Benue and Ebonyi states.

“Unfortunately, these attacks have been swept under the carpet… by the government of Enugu State and the agencies of the security forces including police and the military,” he told Crux.

Umeagbalasi accused the authorities of deliberately trying to  silence witnesses and control the narrative. He claimed local church volunteers who spoke out were “arrested, framed up, detained for several weeks” and then warned not to mention “Fulani jihadists,” but to instead use the term “communal clashes” in describing what’s going on in Nigeria.

He listed recent massacres in Taraba State, where up to 30 Christians were killed; Plateau State, where nine were killed including a pastor; and Kaduna State, where another 10, including a pastor, were murdered.

Recent data from Intersociety indicates that at least 7000 Christians were killed in Nigeria between January and November this year.

The violence reached a horrifying peak in June with the Yelewata Massacre in Benue State, which claimed the lives of at least 280 people in a single two-day assault. This was followed by other deadly raids in the state, including the Sankera Massacre in April, where over 72 individuals were hacked to death, and subsequent attacks in Gwer West and other areas that claimed dozens more lives.

Umeagbalasi told Crux the violence has reached terrifying levels, but what’s more worrying is the “complicity of the state.”

“Whenever they are under attack, if you call soldiers, they will not pick their call,” he stated. “But after the attack, they will come and start picking and help you in picking corpses. And those corpses they pick, they take them away. They will come back and seize all the mobile phones around that place and arrest all their owners and label them conspirators.”

He further alleged the existence of large “Fulani jihadist camps” where hundreds of Christians are being held hostage, including one in Benue South with “up to 800” captives located near two military formations.

Umeagbalasi said the U.S. designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern was certainly a positive sign, but one that will yield no dividends if it’s not accompanied by firm action.

“The Nigerian government is using every crooked and falsified means to mislead the government of the United States into believing that they have started doing something,” he said.

He urged the U.S. to “move beyond general designations and instead target specific groups,” like the Fulani jihadists.

“Once you are able to target these people, things will change,” he insisted, warning that without direct and pinpointed intervention, the “extermination continues.”

President Donald Trump recently designated Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern, signaling the U.S. government views Nigeria as engaging in “systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.”