On the Slaughter of Nigerian Christians
Much of the Western attention has turned to Nigeria as a witness to the horrific atrocities happening there every day against Christians. However, the acknowledgment of the slaughter has been long overdue... approximately 125,000 Nigerian Christians have been killed since 2010. Just this year alone, reports say that around 7,000 Christians have been massacred. With these numbers, many are claiming that Nigeria is experiencing genocide.
The history is very complex and intertwined, but essentially one of the main tensions is between the Islamic extremist and terrorist groups, with the most influential being Boko Haram. The Fulani militia, who are Islamic Jihadists, are also very prominent in the rural areas. These groups raid villages to murder, rape, and burn homes. Young girls are especially targeted, with an alarming number reported to have been assaulted and kidnapped for sex trafficking. Because of the violence, Open Doors has listed Nigeria as the seventh most dangerous country in the world for Christians.
Nigerian President Tinubu has said that he would implement measures to ensure the safety of Christians across the country, but no substantial change has been made to end the violence. In response, President Trump took it to the social media app Truth Social to say the US would cut off aid to Nigeria if the Nigerian government does not do something about this. He went on to say that the US “may very well go into that now disgraced country ‘guns-a-blazing’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists.” Tinubu has responded that Nigeria welcomes any US aid and intervention to prevent further massacres, but he has also stated that “the characterization of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality”. Despite this, Trump has declared Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern”.
For those reading this report, let us remember the centrality of prayer for our brothers and sisters in Christ. About 3.3 million Christian Nigerians have been displaced and moved to refugee camps with nowhere else to go. Thousands upon thousands of women and young girls have gone missing. Christian leaders and priests are being abducted and murdered. Young children are being slaughtered. Nigerian Christians do not have the luxury of dreaming of what they will do tomorrow, and the next day, or the next week. Their concern is with whether they will survive another day. And although these attacks predominantly concern Christians, innocent civilians who practice Islam are also caught in the fire. Prayer is needed now more than ever.