Plateau Cleric Dares Gumi, Offers to Exhume Mass Graves Over Genocide Denial

A leading Plateau State cleric, Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo, has taken a swipe at Kaduna-based Islamic scholar, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, over claims that Christian communities in the Middle Belt are staging fake mass killings to push a genocide narrative.

Gumi, in a Facebook post, alleged that Christian leaders were “burying empty coffins” and filming the process to attract international sympathy and sustain what he described as a false narrative of Christian genocide.

According to him, a medical doctor alerted him to the supposed scheme, which he said contributed to former U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to designate Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern.”

But Dachomo, in a video posted on his Facebook page, dismissed the allegation as an affront to grieving families and challenged Gumi to provide evidence or face legal action.

The clergyman also invited journalists to visit a mass grave in Bindi-Jebbu, Riyom Local Government Area, where 27 victims — including women and children — were buried on July 25 following a deadly midnight attack by suspected Fulani militias ten days earlier.

Visibly angry, Dachomo accused Gumi of “mocking the dead” and said the community was ready to exhume the remains to counter what he called a reckless claim.

“How dare you say we buried empty coffins?” he queried. “The youths are ready. We will dig up the graves and bring out the corpses for the world to see.”

He called on the United Nations, the United States, and international media organisations to visit Plateau communities and independently verify the scale of the killings.

Dachomo warned that Gumi would face divine judgment for allegedly trivialising the bloodshed witnessed across the region.