For information about Orthodox Christianity in Nigeria, see here.
For previous coverage of the persecution of Christians in Nigeria from ChristianPersecution.com, see here.
“Militant Stop Christians from Worshiping in Nigeria,” International Christian Concern, October 8, 2022:
10/08/2022 Nigeria (International Christian Concern) – Northwest of Nigeria is becoming home to consistent violence against Christians, who are relentlessly persecuted. Nigeria government is largely silent as militants, known as bandits by the authorities, stop Christian from worshiping including during worship days in Sakaba villages of Kebbi State.
The militants, moving in groups of more than a hundred on motorcycles and holding weapons, moved in on the Kebbi State villages on a recent Sunday. “They kidnapped our women and stopped us from church worship on Sundays,” one community leader told ICC. Fulani militants displaced them from their original community in attacks.
The community leader told an ICC staffer that, for over two months, they could not go to their church after Fulani attacked their community Minina, 235km from the state capital. He said, “militants killed our people because we are Christians and they killed Muslims who didn’t give them money to do the attack.”
A woman from the community told ICC that she is afraid of going out because the militants are going after young girls, to kidnap them and force them to Islam into marriage with the militants. She says that over thirty girls, including younger girls below eighteen, have been kidnapped. Huge amounts of ransom are paid before their release, though some have escaped on their own she said.
“God is helping us. Our experience is a traumatized one,” says a church pastor. “We are passing through a series of persecution but the government is silent.” He added that the leaders in government are Muslims claimed that the authorities are promoting Islam while not taking action to stop the persecution of Christians. The pastor asked Christians around the world to pray for them.
Last month, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released a report on the state of religious freedom in Nigeria. USCIRF has called attention to the situation in Nigeria for years and sent a delegation to visit the country in June….
