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Nigeria: Religious Freedom is in a Dire State as New President Takes Over

May 26, 2023

For information about Orthodox Christianity in Nigeria, see here.

For previous coverage of the persecution of Christians in Nigeria from ChristianPersecution.com, see here.

“Religious Freedom is in a Dire State as New President Takes Over in Nigeria,” International Christian Concern, May 25, 2023:

5/25/2023 Nigeria (International Christian Concern)—As Bola Tinubu, the declared winner of the 2023 Nigerian presidential race, prepares to take office on Monday, he is inheriting a country with deep religious fault lines. His predecessor, fellow APC party member Muhammadu Buhari, has done little to reduce religious violence in his two terms in office. In fact, religious persecution has worsened during his tenure, with the violence today threatening basic rule of law across the country’s Middle Belt and northern regions….

Tinubu comes to power amid raging religious violence in many parts of Nigeria, especially in the central and northern regions of the country where terrorist and militant groups are waging an effective war against government forces and targeting peaceful communities.

Nigeria has dealt with significant internal violence for years, mostly at the hands of the Boko Haram terrorist group and militant Fulani herdsmen. Tens of thousands have been killed or abducted by these two groups, and hundreds of thousands have been internally displaced.

Meanwhile, the government—under both Christian president Goodluck Jonathan and Muslim president Muhammadu Buhari—has failed to provide any kind of effective response to the violence or adequate protection to vulnerable communities regularly targeted for their religion, such as in southern Kaduna State where certain Christian communities have been attacked by Muslim extremists repeatedly over the years….