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Pregnant woman survives massacre by hiding four days in a pit with her children

Last month, gunmen suspected to by Fulani militants attacked multiple Christian villages in Plateau State’s Riyom Local Government Area. Juliet Yohanna, a pregnant mother of five, recently told Sun News how she survived the massacre which killed fourteen members of her village.

 

“On that fateful day, the Fulani were seen on the hills moving as if they were passing by,” Juliet told the Sun News. “Our people couldn’t sleep that night. But as they tried to catch some sleep in the early hours of the fateful day, the (militant) herdsmen struck, and took them unawares. They killed fourteen persons from the community, burnt our houses and destroyed our foodstuffs. We had nowhere to run to and no help coming our way.”

Juliet took her five children and hid in a mining pit. For four days, they lay still, with nothing to eat or drink. According to the Sun News, Juliet’s husband, Yohanna David, searched and cried for days without seeing his family. Finally, he concluded that they had been killed in the attack.

“It was God that saved us. I never knew I could make it,” Juliet said in the local language, adding that the gunmen walked across the pit without seeing them. “Imagine staying for four days without even water. And I am pregnant. My children also endured the whole situation.”

Nigeria has long suffered at the hands of violent militants, especially in its Middle Belt region where jihadists have killed tens of thousands and displaced millions. Over the years, the Nigerian government has proved utterly ineffective against the violence and, as has been the case in Plateau State over the past few months, has failed the Christian community.

Source: persecution.org

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