President Trump announces that “Christians are facing an existential threat in Nigeria, Thousands of Christians are being killed.” and announced that he is making Nigeria a country of particular concern.
He’s right.
Awful things are happening in Nigeria. It is hard to track his numbers, but there is ample evidence of slaughter on a mass scale.
Open Doors Australia reported: “A devastating wave of attacks in Benue State, Nigeria, earlier this year has left more than 200 people dead and thousands displaced, with survivors describing the violence as ‘horrifying.’
“Shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ (God is greater), militants burned the buildings and attacked people with guns and machetes. Some 200 people were killed in mostly Christian villages and five injured. Earlier that day, six civilians and three soldiers were killed in separate incidents.
“In Yelewata village, Fulani militants burned shops with people inside, leaving families shattered. Sixty-year-old Tese Matthew recalls how some community members slept in their stores to protect their livelihoods. “The extremists burnt down the stores with people inside, together with the goods,” she says.
“For 31-year-old farmer Dennis Nomsoo, the violence was deeply personal. His family had taken refuge in a church the night of the attack. When morning came, he discovered his grandfather was dead and his father’s wife severely injured. “I cannot relent in worshipping God,” Dennis says. “I will still praise Him and be glad for my life and my other surviving family members.”
“Open Doors condemns in the strongest terms possible the attacks in Benue state,” says Jo Newhouse, Open Doors’ spokesperson for sub-Saharan Africa. “For this pattern of attack on mostly Christian villages to continue without restraint is totally unacceptable. Christians in the Middle Belt of Nigeria need to know their government is willing to do what is needed to secure their safety of all her citizens, regardless of their ethnicity or religion.”
Open Doors’ Nigeria profile says that more Christians are killed in Nigeria than anywhere else.
Nigeria is decribed as an “an epicentre of Christian martyrdom” by the Catholic group Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). National Director Bernard Toutounji told Sky News lat month, “Since 2000, more than 60,000 Christians have been murdered by Islamist groups like Boko Haram and heavily armed militias.”
The ACN Country report details the political situation in Nigeria, pointing to 12 states Nigeria’s Federal structure adopting Sharia law. “According to ACN’s most recent Religious Freedom Report, Sharia law has deepened divisions in the country. When 12 states introduced Islamic law years ago, many Muslims reac- ted with enthusiasm, while Christians protested the decision. Ensuing riots claimed several thousand lives – of Christians as well as Muslims. Fr Atta Barkindo, director of the renowned Catholic Kukah Centre promoting interfaith dialogue, states: “What Sharia law has done is to divide us more in this country. You go to communities; people have withdrawn into the womb of their religions”. According to Fr Barkindo it is urgent for Nigerians to discuss what their country should actually look like as a secular state, how it can define itself as a nation, and how Christians and Muslims can live together.”
The Sharia law states cluster in the north, reflecting a religious divide. The militant islamist group Boko Haram inflicts much of the violence. “According to the Council on Foreign Relations’ Nigeria Security Tracker, more than 41,600 people have been killed in Nigeria in the Boko Haram conflict, including civilians, Boko Haram fighters and state agents,” the ACN country report details. “Other sources speak about Boko Haram killed more than 65,000 people killed between 2011 and 2022.”
The source for the higher number is this Statista.com report.
“The most targeted group has been Christians, who have seen their places of worship laid to waste, as well as often being at- tacked and killed along the highways and having their livelihood destroyed. However it is important to note that the fact that the terrorist groups operate in states with a predominantly Muslim population means that the violence has not only affected Chris-tians, but also Muslims.”
Further responses
Donald Trump issued a second sabre-rattling statemnet against Nigeria: “If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, “guns-a-blazing,” to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities. I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and
sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians!
WARNING: THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT BETTER MOVE FAST!”
The Nigerian Government issued this statement
Visit www.opendoors.org.au to provide urgent food, medical care, and Bibles for displaced believers.
Image: Christian Refugee Camp in Nigeria’s Benue State. Image Credit: Open Doors