By Terna Chikpa, Jalingo
At dawn in southern Taraba State—particularly in Chanchanji Ward of Takum and parts of Wukari Local Government Areas—residents say the sound of birds has been replaced by gunfire, hurried footsteps and desperate prayers as families flee their homes in fear.
Farmlands that once sustained generations of Tiv farmers now lie abandoned, marked by shallow graves, burnt homesteads and an eerie silence.
For the Tiv communities of Chanchanji, attacks by armed herdsmen have become a grim daily reality.
In neighbouring Wukari, residents say the situation appears to have been resigned to fate. Survivors, community leaders and clerics allege that the sustained assaults across Chanchanji follow a chilling pattern: armed men strike villages and farmlands, kill residents, torch homes and force mass displacement.
What began about two months ago as sporadic clashes has hardened into a campaign many now fear amounts to ethnic cleansing and religious persecution.
Residents told our correspondent that the attacks have come in relentless waves, often targeting farmers while tending their crops. Entire communities empty overnight, leaving behind only ashes, broken tools and silence.
The latest escalation shocked even hardened residents. Around Avande village near Kufai Ahmadu, security sources confirmed that three soldiers were killed in an ambush while responding to distress calls from nearby communities. Locals say the incident reinforced fears that banditry has overwhelmed existing security measures.
“If soldiers sent to protect us were killed, then we are completely exposed,” said Nongonen Terngu, a displaced farmer. “We no longer farm; we are only trying to survive.”
The crisis reached the floor of the Taraba State House of Assembly when Abubakar Tanko Yusuf, the member representing Takum I State Constituency, raised the issue during plenary. He described the killings as barbaric and unjustifiable, warning that what initially appeared to be isolated incidents had evolved into sustained violence threatening the stability of Takum and surrounding areas.
Tanko urged security agencies to urgently investigate the killings, apprehend the perpetrators and ensure their prosecution, warning that continued inaction could embolden criminal elements. While appealing for calm and restraint, he called for strengthened security deployment, improved intelligence gathering and deeper grassroots engagement in identified flashpoints.
Beyond the legislature, alarm bells have grown louder from the pulpit.
During a thanksgiving Mass in Taraba State, Bishop Mark Maigida Nzukwein delivered a homily that doubled as a passionate cry for help. Speaking on the occasion of the election of Very Rev. Dr. Williams Awoshiri and Mr. Job Julius as CAN and YOWICAN chairmen respectively, the bishop painted a grim picture of violence in southern Taraba.
He alleged that in the past three months alone, more than 70 innocent people had been killed in violent attacks across Ussa and Takum Local Government Areas, particularly Chanchanji Ward. According to him, the violence has led to the destruction of farmlands and homes and the displacement of residents in over 200 villages.
Looking beyond recent months, the bishop described what he termed a prolonged humanitarian catastrophe. He told worshippers that over the past six years, violence in southern Taraba had allegedly resulted in the destruction of more than 335 rural communities and churches, while over 300,000 people had been displaced—many without access to relief materials or medical care.
He lamented the growing number of widows, orphans and out-of-school children, warning that the social consequences of the crisis were becoming as devastating as the killings themselves.
“These are not just numbers,” the bishop said. “They are lives, families and communities being wiped away quietly.”
Bishop Nzukwein warned against silence, urging the media, humanitarian organisations and people of goodwill to act. He called for urgent intervention, insisting that the crisis demanded attention beyond government circles.
Community leaders say the bishop’s figures reflect realities on the ground. Reports compiled by local stakeholders indicate that more than 95 communities in Chanchanji Ward alone have been affected. Villages including Unom, Adu, Facii, Atogbenda, New Gboko, Akwaya, Gberugo, Demava, Avande, Tse Peeki, Tse Karmal, Tse Akanyi, Tse Ugbãa, Kwanta, Wambe, Wantsar, Ayiase, Vendagoor, Kumun, Virgir and Dooshiman, among others, are said to have suffered killings, arson and displacement.
Women and children now crowd neighbouring communities, while farmlands lie idle and local markets struggle to function. Religious leaders argue that the victims are overwhelmingly Christian farming communities—a pattern they say fuels fears of targeted persecution. These concerns echo recent international discourse, including allegations by United States President Donald Trump regarding Christian persecution in Nigeria.
While authorities often describe the violence as resource-based conflict, affected communities insist that the scale, consistency and duration of the attacks demand deeper scrutiny.
As tension remains high in Chanchanji Ward, residents say they no longer want sympathy. They want security, justice and the chance to return safely to their ancestral homes.
For now, blood continues to soak the farmland, churches hold funerals instead of harvest thanksgivings, and abandoned villages stand as mute witnesses.
Community leaders warn that unless the Federal Government and the international community intervene decisively, Chanchanji—and Christian communities across southern Taraba—may become yet another tragic symbol of Nigeria’s unresolved Middle Belt crisis, where faith, ethnicity and survival collide, and where the living wait anxiously as they bury their dead in silence.
