A report published on Sunday details ongoing terrorism in Nigeria, namely against Christians.
Some of the numbers in Nigeria since January 2021:
- 3,462 Christians killed
- 3,000 Christians abducted
- 300 churches attacked, closed, burnt, or destroyed
"It is deeply saddening that till date those responsible for the anti Christian butcheries in the country have continued to evade justice and remained unchecked, untracked, uninvestigated and untried; leading to impunity and repeat-atrocities," said International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety), the group that produced the original report.
The Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen are responsible for 1,909 Christian deaths in 2021. Boko Haram, ISWAP, and Muslim Fulani Bandits killed 1,063 Christians.
"[T]he Muslim Fulani Bandits target and kill or abduct both Christians and Muslims; holding against their fellow Muslims a jihadist belief that the 'Indigenous Hausa Muslims are not pure Muslims,'" Intersociety said.
The Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Police Force, and Nigeria's other armed forces killed 490 Christians.
"The surviving victims and families of the dead victims are also totally abandoned by the Government of Nigeria. ... The country's security forces have so fumbled and compromised that they hardly intervene when the vulnerable Christians are in danger of threats or attacks," Intersociety said.
"In the North, the jihadists operate freely under the cover and protection of the security forces; abducting, killing, looting, destroying or burning and forcefully converting their captive and unprotected Christians and their homes and sacred places of worship and learning. But the same security forces hatefully and brutally respond with utter ferocity against Southern and Northern Christians who are accused of infraction or offending the law."
International Christian Concern asked readers to pray:
- "For the grieving friends and family of those who have been killed in Nigeria."
- "For the government to gain wisdom and motivation to protect its Christian citizens."
- "The world to recognize the scale of the suffering that believers endure in the country"
- "The souls of those who persecute the church, that all will repent and find salvation in Christ."
Amen.
