Church of Nigeria and the Killing Fields
by The Revd Hassan John, Archdeacon of Jos, Church of Nigeria. EN:
The Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, like many denominations in the northern states, is facing persecution.
The radical Islamic terrorist group, Jama’atu Ahlis-Sunna Lidda’Awati Wal-Jihad (People Committed to the Prophet’s Teachings for Propagation and Jihad), has focused its attacks on Christians and their churches, businesses or communities since 2010, making Nigeria the 14th most dangerous country for Christians in the world.
The group then graduated to attacking anything it perceives as immoral against Islam, particularly Western education, exemplified in schools and in democratic governance. This earned it the name Boko Haram, meaning ‘Western education is un-Islamic and prohibited’.
Thousands killed
Boko Haram has killed well over 20,000 people according to the 2016 UN records. ‘14.8 million Nigerians from Northeast are directly impacted by the crisis. Officially, there are 2.2 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs),’ a report says, but unofficial records put the figures at around 7 million. 14 million people in the region have been impacted by the radical Islamic terror group’s insurgency.
The Jos Province, Anglican Communion, consisting of ten states of the north eastern region, has suffered the most in the country. Over 13,000 churches have been destroyed by Boko Haram in the northeast. Bishop Emmanuel Morris of Maiduguri Diocese said that in Borno State only four churches within Maiduguri town, of the hundreds of churches in the region, are still functional. Thousands of Christians have been displaced.
This challenge is further complicated by the continuing attacks by Islamist Fulani cattle herdsmen, named as ‘fourth deadliest known terrorist group’ in the world, who have targeted the predominantly Christian middle-belt region of the country. Hundreds of villages have been destroyed and thousands of people killed since 2014.
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