BWA leader urges Nigerian president to ensure safety

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — The head of the Baptist World Alliance called on Nigeria’s president to take action to prevent further violence like an attack that killed the pastor and several members of a Baptist church on Christmas Eve. Neville Callam, general secretary of the global Baptist network based in Falls Church, Va., wrote Nigerian President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan urging him to “take all necessary measures to eliminate the conflict and violence with their accompanying human-rights violations.” A wave of violence has rocked Africa’s most populous nation in recent weeks in anticipation of upcoming elections. Boko Haram, an outlawed radical Islamic sect, is presumed to be linked to the terror, including a Christmas Eve attack on Victory Baptist Church, Maiduguri, the capital and the largest city of Borno State in northeastern Nigeria.