The Killing of Rev. Ayuba, His Wife and Two Children in Plateau State Raises a Hard Question: When Will Christians Fight Back?
It has become a sad routine in central Nigeria. Another family wiped out. Another clergyman cut down. Another night where sleep feels like a gamble.
But the killing of Rev. Ayuba Choji, his wife, and their two children in Plateau State has struck a nerve that is no longer just about grief. It has turned into anger. And that anger is slowly shaping into one uncomfortable question: When will Christians stop burying their dead and start fighting back?
The attack happened in Gako village, Rim Ward, Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State. Rev. Ayuba Choji was a pastor with the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA). He lived there with his wife, Chundung Ayuba, and their two children – Cyril and Endurance Ayumba.
According to residents, the attackers came around 11 p.m. on Sunday, April 26, 2026. They did not come quietly. They shot nonstop, sending families running into nearby bushes in the dark. Some residents still do not know if their relatives made it out alive.
By the time the shooting stopped, the pastor, his wife, and both children were dead.
A community member named Martha Dalyop told local reporters that this was not the first time. “We live in constant fear,” she said. “Many of us no longer sleep in our own homes. We cannot go to our farms without looking over our shoulders.”
Rwang Tengwong, the publicity secretary of the Berom Youths Moulder Association, explained that the attackers do not just shoot. They move in well-organized groups. One team attacks the people. Another team burns crops. A third blocks any escape route so that help cannot get in.
He said large stretches of farmland in Kassa, Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, have been destroyed – maize fields, cabbage farms, and hot pepper crops all burned. That means food will become even harder to find in a region already struggling to feed itself.
The Bigger Debate: Genocide or Not?
Over the years, many Christian leaders in northern and central Nigeria have argued that believers are being systematically erased. They point to attack after attack – churches burned, pastors killed, entire Christian villages emptied.
The Nigerian government has always rejected this label. Officials say that people of other religions are also killed in these conflicts, and that the violence is about land, cattle, and local politics, not religion.
But for ordinary Christians watching Rev. Ayuba’s family being lowered into the ground, the distinction does not matter. What matters is that they keep dying. And they keep asking: Where is the protection?
For years, the common advice from church leaders was to turn the other cheek. Pray. Report to the police. Trust the authorities.
READ: Tribute to Solomon Akiyesi: A 30-Year Career, a Loving Family, and a Sudden Goodbye
But after hundreds of attacks and thousands of deaths, a new voice is getting louder. Some younger Christians are now openly saying that prayer alone is not working. They point to how other communities in Nigeria – when faced with repeated attacks – have formed local defense groups and reduced the killing.
“We are not asking for war,” one resident of Riyom told this reporter, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. “We are asking to stay alive. If the government cannot protect us, should we just wait for our turn to die?”
No Easy Answers
That question has no simple answer. Arming local Christian groups could lead to open religious warfare. Staying passive has already led to countless graves.
What is clear is that after the killing of Rev. Ayuba, his pregnant wife (residents said she was expecting another child, though that detail has not been officially confirmed), and his two young children, patience is running out.
As one elder from Gako village put it: “We have cried. We have reported. We have prayed. Now we just want to know – does God expect us to die forever?”
For now, the only certainty is that next Sunday, another church in Plateau State will be missing its pastor. And somewhere in Nigeria, another family will be asking the same hard question.
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