Persecution of Christians in Nigeria: Nigeria is about 50% Christian. Of those Christians, around 75% are Protestant, 24% Roman Catholic. Of the remaining 1%, there is a small Orthodox Christian community.
These Christians are being subjected to a ruthless persecution that has gone on with sporadic attacks for years, and has been escalating recently. Targeting the Christians are both the Islamic militant group Boko Haram and Muslim Fulani herdsmen, as well as a faction that broke away from Boko Haram and aligned with the Islamic State (ISIS).
Bishop Stephen Mamza, the state chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, said that Christians are being killed “on a daily basis, without security forces responding appropriately to stop them from hurting Christians.” Mamza warned that the “incessant attacks on Christians has led to hunger and starvation” and said that “if these Christians are not aided many will die of starvation.”
For previous coverage of the persecution of Christians in Nigeria at ChristianPersecution.com, see here.
“Islamic State says it killed 11 Christians in Nigeria,” Reuters, December 27, 2019:
MAIDUGURI/CAIRO — Islamic State released a video purporting to show it killing 11 Christian men in Nigeria, saying it was part of a campaign to avenge the deaths of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and its spokesman.
The militant group posted the footage on its online Telegram news channel on Thursday, the day after Christmas, with Arabic captions but no audio.
The video showed men in beige uniforms and black masks lining up behind blindfolded captives, then shooting one and beheading the rest.
A previous video seen by Reuters said the captives had been taken from Maiduguri and Damaturu in Nigeria’s northeast, where militants have been fighting for years to set up a separate Islamist state.
In that earlier video, the captives pleaded for the Christian Association of Nigeria and President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene to save them….
