Latest: Three Christians Killed in Plateau State as Pastor Warns Christians Won't See Christmas

Fwangshak Lesun was riding home on his motorcycle on Sunday evening, back toward his village of Daika after a trip to Mangu town. At about 8:30 p.m. on 3 November, armed herdsmen ambushed him on the road and shot him dead, according to area resident Christopher Luka, speaking to Christian Daily International-Morning Star News as reported by Evangelical Focus.

Lesun was 30 years old. His family recovered his body near the Mangu-Daika bridge and buried him the next day, Monday 4 November, in Daika, Luka told the same outlet, as reported by Evangelical Focus.

Lesun was the third Christian killed in Plateau State in the space of about a week, according to the Evangelical Focus report. A week earlier, in the Jos North area, attackers struck a Christian family's home in Hwollaza village, off the Jos-Zaria highway, in the early hours of 27 October.

That attack killed a mother and her adult son, Evangelical Focus reports. Area resident John Dauda told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News that the herdsmen killed Mrs. Mary Jonathan and her son, Mr. Mark Jonathan, while a third member of the household, Dickson Timothy, was shot and injured.

A Family Buried, a Husband's Farewell

The Jonathan family's grief reached the public through a statement from a relative in Nigeria's National Assembly. Yusuf Gagdi, a member of the National Assembly and an in-law to the Jonathan family, issued a statement about the killing, Evangelical Focus reports.

Yusuf Gagdi, a member of the National Assembly and an in-law to the Jonathan family, issued a statement about the killing, Evangelical Focus reports.

“Myself, alongside my wife, Jemimah, laid to rest her mother, Mrs. Mary Jonathan, and brother, Mark Jonathan, who were tragically taken from us by violent and senseless acts,” Gagdi said, as quoted by Evangelical Focus.

“We honor their memories, pray and seek justice. Rest well, Mama and brother Mark. May God Almighty expose the perpetrators of this heinous crime,” he added.

Timothy, the injured member of the household, was in critical condition at a clinic in Jos, Dauda told the outlet, as reported by Evangelical Focus. The report says the two Christians who died have been buried, and that the injured man was receiving treatment at a hospital in Jos.

Alfred Alabo, spokesman for the Plateau State Police Command, told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News that Commissioner of Police Emmanuel Olugbemiga Adesina visited the site where the attack occured and directed officers to investigate, Evangelical Focus reports. The report does not name any arrested suspects.

“We Will Not Live to Enjoy Our Christmas”

While these funerals were still fresh, a Plateau pastor raised an alarm that put the killings into a darker warning. Pastor Damian, a Plateau-based cleric, said in a video posted on social media on Tuesday 4 November that terrorists had perfected plans to attack Christian communities across the state during the Christmas period, the Daily Post reports.

Damian said the alleged plan aimed to wipe out Christians, the Daily Post reports, and that attackers had been holding meetings and raising funds for weapons and logistics. He compared the warning to Christmas 2023, when he said over 1,000 Christians were killed in several communities — a figure reported here only as his claim in the video, not as a verified count.

“We are hearing the same rumor again — that we will not live to enjoy our Christmas,” Damian said in the video, as quoted by the Daily Post.

He added: “Every day in Plateau State, we wake up to a killing or killings. Christians are being killed by terrorists who want to grab our land and impose a caliphate.”

Damian named Mangu, Barkin Ladi, Bassa, Riyom and Bokkos as areas where Christians have been killed in the last two months, the Daily Post reports. He said villages across those areas had been completely taken over, and he ended his message with a plea: “Pray for Plateau. Speak for Plateau. The persecution of Christians in Plateau must end.”

The alleged Christmas plot is, at this stage, an allegation made by one pastor in a social media video, and this article does not present it as a confirmed plan. What is confirmed, through the Evangelical Focus report, is that three Christians are dead and one more was injured in Plateau within about a week — and that a pastor on the ground believes worse may be coming.

Other recent Nigerian attacks are covered in Gunmen Kill Pastor and Three Others in Benue Market Attack November 2026 and Latest: Seven Christian Mourners Kidnapped in Benue as $23000 Ransom Demanded. The wider pattern of attacks on Christians in India is reported in Latest: West Bengal Christians Tell People's Tribunal of Mob Attacks on Prayer Meetings.

Why Plateau Keeps Appearing in These Reports

Evangelical Focus notes that Plateau's violence has a longer history behind it. In May 2023, hundreds of Fulani herdsmen invaded Christian communities in the Mangu area, killing more than 200 Christians, the report says.

The report also notes that Nigeria remained the deadliest place in the world to follow Christ in Open Doors' 2024 World Watch List figures, with 4,118 people killed for their faith from 1 October 2022 to 30 September 2023. That figure covers a different period.

Christian leaders in Nigeria have said they believe herdsmen attacks on Christian communities in the Middle Belt are driven by a desire to take over Christians' lands, Evangelical Focus reports. The report also notes that most Fulani people do not hold extremist views, citing a 2020 report by the UK's All-Party Parliamentary Group for Freedom of Religion or Belief.

Christian leaders in Nigeria have said they believe herdsmen attacks on Christian communities in the Middle Belt are driven by a desire to take over Christians' lands, Evangelical Focus reports.

It is whether anyone will be held to account before Christmas — the season Pastor Damian says his people have now been told they may not live to see.

But the most surprising part of this story is yet to come — keep reading.