By Hon. Comrade James Onifade 
Imagine waking up to the sound of gunfire. Your village is under attack again. You grab your children and run into the darkness, leaving everything behind. By morning, your neighbors are dead, your home is burned, and your farmland is destroyed. You report it to the authorities. Nothing happens.
The killers are never caught. Now imagine this isn’t a one-time tragedy. It happens again. And again. For years.
This is the reality for hundreds of thousands of Nigerians living in the Middle Belt, the invisible border where Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim north meets its largely Christian south.
Since 2015, according to report, an estimated 50,000 to 70,000 people have died in what some call Africa’s most underreported crisis.
Thousands of Nigerians have been slaughtered, displaced, or buried in unmarked graves. Entire communities have vanished from maps. Yet, the world still struggles to call it Genocide. But behind that hesitation lies an even harder truth, even if the world admits it, no one is coming to save us.
The Endless Circle of Violence
In Nigeria’s Middle Belt , Benue, Plateau, Taraba, Nasarawa, and Southern Kaduna families live under constant threat. Villages are attacked at night, homes burned, crops destroyed, and survivors pushed into overcrowded camps.
A Cry from Plateau: Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo Speaks for the Dead
Drawing from the Reverend’s plea, his testimony adds a human face to the statistics proof that the killings are real, deliberate, and devastating , even as officials continue to dismiss them as isolated clashes.
The Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo, a respected clergyman with the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN), has issued an urgent appeal to the United States government and the international community to intervene and halt what he describes as an ongoing genocide against Christians in Nigeria’s Middle Belt.
Dachomo’s plea follows a fresh wave of coordinated attacks by armed Fulani extremists on October 14 in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area (LGA) of Plateau State, which left at least 13 Christians dead, several injured, and many displaced.
Speaking to International Christian Concern (ICC) after the mass burial of the victims in Rachas village, Dachomo expressed deep frustration over the continued slaughter of Christians across Plateau State and northern Nigeria. He accused the authorities of complicity and denial in the face of overwhelming evidence of targeted violence.
His testimony adds a human face to the statistics proof that the killings are real, deliberate, and devastating even as officials continue to dismiss them as isolated clashes.
Since 2015, an estimated 50,000 to 70,000 people have died in this wave of violence that blends religion, ethnicity, and survival. To many Nigerians, especially Christians in affected regions, this feels like nothing short of targeted extermination, a quiet genocide the world refuses to name.
The Debate Over the ‘G-Word’
The term genocide is more than emotional, it’s legal. Under international law, recognizing genocide triggers a duty to act. It means a government or community is being systematically destroyed because of who they are their faith, ethnicity, or identity.
In order not to raise a global eyebrows and to avert the foreign (USA) invasion if the situation is termed as “genocide” and loot our natural resources under the guise of intervention.
Let’s all believe that both Muslims and Christians are massacred!!! But, internal mechanics should be adopted on time to forestall peace and nolamcy among the boko harram dominating states and Nigeria at large.
But applying that word to Nigeria’s conflict is politically explosive.
Here’s why:
● The violence involves multiple actors : Herders, farmers, criminal gangs, and extremist groups.
● Both Christians and Muslims have suffered losses.
● Factors like climate change, poverty, and weak governance blur the lines of intention.
The America’s Dilemma
The United States once investigated whether Nigeria’s crisis met the legal standard for genocide. The conclusion? “Serious abuses,” but no official genocide designation.
To Washington, it’s “complex conflict.” To Nigerians living through it, it’s mass murder.
But here’s the twist: even if the U.S. declared it genocide, military intervention would bring more pain than peace.
The world’s history with foreign invasions like Rwanda, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan shows that “rescue missions” often destroy more than they save.
Why Nigeria Should Not Be Invaded
Calling for an American-led intervention might sound like justice, but it risks turning Nigeria into another failed experiment in “humanitarian warfare.”
The consequences could be disastrous and this can lead to the following:
● Nigeria’s economy could collapse.
● Extremist groups like Boko Haram could gain ground.
● National unity could crumble under foreign pressure.
● Ordinary Nigerians would pay the price for a war they didn’t start.
Who Will Speak for the Dead?
History will not only remember who killed, but who watched and said nothing. The graves in Benue, Plateau, and Southern Kaduna hold more than bodies, they hold the proof of the world’s selective compassion.
When genocide happens in Europe or the Middle East, the world moves fast. But when it’s Nigeria, the same world debates, delays, and hides behind words like “complexity.”
The truth is painful: the world values stability over justice, oil over lives, and silence over action. But Nigeria must not wait for saviors. The only way to end this cycle is for Nigerians to demand accountability, rebuild peace, and ensure that no one not herders, not farmers, not politicians is above the law.
The world may keep watching. But Nigeria must act. Because this is not just violence. It is targeted destruction. It is genocidal. And while America’s bombs will not save us, our own justice might.
What we need is not another foreign occupation disguised as humanitarianism, we need truth, justice, and reform rooted in Nigerian hands.