By Rick Plasterer, Juicy Ecumenism. (photo: Gracious Adebayo/Unsplash)
A murderous campaign of Islamist militants against Christians and non-conforming Muslims in Nigeria by various jihadic groups seems have accelerated this spring. Earlier articles (here, here, here, and here) have reported what has been happening in recent years. A staggering 52,000 Christians have been killed since 2009, and 18,000 churches set on fire, yet somehow this remains under the radar of public consciousness in America and elsewhere in the West. The situation cries out for all action that can reasonably be taken.
The Recent Spate of Killings
While it seems that killing and destruction of property is going on all the time, Christian holidays are especially likely to be times of attack. In past years, attacks occurred on Christmas and Pentecost; this year an attack on Palm Sunday killed 40 people in Zikke village in Plateau State in north-central Nigeria. Another report from Christian News Network said this followed a total of 60 killed Plateau State earlier in April. The report also updated the killing in Zikke to 51, while Open Doors ministry finds the number of people killed in the recent spate of attacks in Plateau State at 113 (including 3 farmers tilling their land, and mourners at a funeral). On April 6, five women were killed who “gathered for fellowship.” Open Doors also noted that in the Zikke attack, houses were burned with people inside (which also has occurred in Nigeria at other times and places in the silent Nigerian genocide).
Joseph Chudu Yonkpa, a community leader in the affected Miango District of Plateau State, condemned the lack of state action. “We are deeply concerned about the silence of state actors, the lack of condemnation, and the absence of intervention or visitation to our people … We are particularly worried about the lack of action taken to arrest the perpetrators of these heinous crimes as they continue to kill our people on daily basis,” he said.