Persecution of Christians in Nigeria Continues to Need Attention and Action – Part 1

Sep 9, 2021 by Andrew Symes

Rick Plasterer, Juicy Ecumenism:

The decades long persecution of Christians in Nigeria continues unabated, and if anything appears to be worsening and just as one-sided as ever. It has been recounted in numerous articles posted by IRD in recent years. Perhaps most disturbing, the government of Nigeria, led by President Muhammed Buhari, has centralized control of the nation’s police, and seems to have a policy of allowing Christians to be murdered by militants of the Muslim Fulani ethnic group with impunity…

…While it is being claimed that climate change is the ultimate cause of the conflict, in fact, the killings that have happened from 2014 on are a “genocide perpetrated by a sophisticated armed militia.” He said the Fulani militants are “well organized, they are well trained, they are well armed.” These armed groups “move from village to village, from town to town, from community to community.” It has also been claimed that “the attacks were not religious.” But Jacob said that all the attacks are religious. Attackers come into a community shouting the Islamic slogan “Allahu Akbar!” Churches are destroyed. Mosques are spared, indeed, left “untouched.” Muslim inhabitants are not attacked, only Christians. He said that since 2015, the Nigerian government has “taken sides with the attackers.” To claim that the attacks are not religious is simply a “falsehood,” he said.

Reilly asked who is arming the Fulani. Jacob said that the Nigerian government claims that the arms are coming from Libya. However, Jacob said that “the Islamic world is organized on this matter. Several Islamic countries are believed to be funding and supporting these attacks because the entire program is described as a jihad.” He said that it “is described as an attempt to Islamize the territories.” The attackers “use the Islamic language and slogans.”

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