As reports of kidnappings, killings and persecution of Christians in Nigeria continue to build, some Nigerian leaders see the work of Muslim militants as a “planned genocide.”
Armed militants stormed two churches in Taraba state in Nigeria on Oct. 19 and killed 31 people as they worshipped, a church leader said.
Two pastors, one pastor’s son and 28 other Christians were slain in the attacks in the villages of Gindin Waya and Sondi, said Pastor Caleb Ahema, president of the Christian Reformed Church of Christ in Nigeria. Ahema said the onslaught was the seventh attack on Christian communities in the Wukari local government area since February.
“The attack on Christians in Taraba state is a planned genocide against Christians by Islamic insurgents who have invaded the southern part of the state, inhabited mostly by Christians,” he said.
Ahema said the Muslim militants, who wore military uniforms, were members of the Islamic group Boko Haram who came from outside the state. Recently insurgents from Boko Haram, based in Borno state, have reportedly joined ethnic Fulani herdsmen in attacks on Christians in Taraba and other northeastern states.
Some recent attacks, according to Nigerian press reports, have been carried out by Fulani herdsmen who have become members of Boko Haram.
“This is the third time that the Muslims have attacked Christians on a Sunday,” Ahema said. “The attack led to the death of four people in Gindin Waya, and 27 people in Sondi. Among the dead is the pastor of the Sondi church, Nuhu Useni, and his only male child.”
Useni and the three other Christians slain in Sondi were buried Oct. 20, Ahema said.
Ahema said the killings have caused excruciating pain for the Reformed Church in Nigeria, and he appealed for the Nigerian government to take steps to stop the blood bath.
Islamic militants with Boko Haram and others killed 1,631 Christians in Nigeria for their faith in the first six months of 2014 — a figure that is 91 percent of the total Christians killed (1,783) in the country in all of 2013, according to advocacy group Jubilee Campaign.
The increase in Christian deaths accompanies an increase in the total number of all people killed, mainly by Boko Haram — 4,099, which is 975 more than the total deaths from attacks by religious extremists for all of 2013.
Boko Haram also was responsible for kidnapping more than 200 schoolgirls from a school in Chibok area of Borno state in mid-April.
Although a cease-fire agreement reached Oct. 17 between the Nigerian army and the militant group seemed a hopeful indication of a quick release, the schoolgirls were still being held captive at press time.
And instead of releasing the girls, Boko Haram executed another large-scale kidnapping of dozens of women Oct. 23 in Adamawa state, according to reports.
While Boko Haram (translated as “Western education is a sin”) is the moniker residents of Maiduguri, Borno state gave the insurgents, the group calls itself the “Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad,” translated as “The Congregation of the People of Tradition for Proselytism and Jihad.” The United States designated it as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in November 2013.
Christians make up 51.3 percent of Nigeria’s population of 158.2 million, while Muslims account for 45 percent and live mainly in the north.
“The government with whom lies the onus to protect the lives and properties of the citizens as provided for in the constitution … seems to have no interest in these killings and displacement of people, with attending sufferings by women and children especially,” Ahema said. (MS, TAB)
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