U.S. Representative Riley M. Moore said he has returned from a congressional delegation visit to Nigeria, where he met with church leaders and internally displaced Christians in Benue State who described repeated attacks on their communities.
Moore, who travelled with members of the House Appropriations Committee, said the delegation met Bishops Wilfred Anagbe and Stephen Dugu as well as the traditional ruler Tor Tiv. He said the group also visited camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs), which he described as housing Christian residents uprooted by violence.
According to Moore, survivors in the camps recounted assaults they attributed to armed Fulani militants. He said the delegation heard “heartbreaking stories,” including from a woman who reported being forced to watch the killing of five of her children.
Moore said the accounts were among the most distressing he had encountered and that the experience would “stay with [him] the rest of [his] life.”
The congressman added that he is preparing a report for the U.S. president outlining recommendations for working with the Nigerian government “in a coordinated and cooperative manner” to address violence against Christian communities in the Middle Belt and ongoing terrorist threats in the country’s northeast.
