Asabe’s life was turned upside down and devastated in one appalling, never-to-be-forgotten night earlier this year.
The Nigerian wife and mother’s home was viciously attacked by Fulani Islamists, who slaughtered one of her sons and set fire to their house, killing other family members in the process.
In total, more than 50 men, women and children were killed in the Palm Sunday evening attack on Zike village in Nigeria’s Plateau State. The Fulani raiders were armed with guns and machetes.
Asabe’s (top right) home was one of the first to be targeted, as it sits on the edge of the village, near the boundary with neighbouring Kaduna State.
The family was awoken by gunshots. The attackers forced their way into the home, dragged Asabe’s 14-year-old son Jerry outside and, in Asabe’s words, ‘killed him like a goat.’
They then ransacked the house, before setting fire to it—with the rest of the family still inside. As the fire took hold, Asabe tried to stop her six-year-old daughter Joanne (right) from crying, fearful as she was that the militants would return and kill them all.
But then, as they were trapped inside and the heat of the blaze became unbearable, she encouraged her daughter to cry, reasoning that if the attackers returned and killed them it would be a quicker, less painful death. Thankfully, it was other villagers who heard the cries and came to the rescue.
Asabe’s husband, Moses, was taken to hospital, but later died from his burn injuries. Their ten-year-old son James was another victim, having died in the fire. Asabe’s mother-in-law, Talatu (top left), survived, but has been left with badly burned hands.
The Palm Sunday night attack on Zike village was far from being an isolated incident. Many Christian communities have suffered this year in violent raids by Islamist Fulani herdsmen.
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