Danger zone

During three decades of Christian ministry in Nigeria, Benjamin Kwashi has conducted far more funerals than weddings.

The Anglican archbishop of Jos grew up in the country’s north and faced death early on: During unrest in 1987, militants burned his home and church, and threatened his life.

“I would have never imagined it,” Kwashi says. “Simply for being a Christian.”

Over the next 30 years, the Anglican cleric watched persecution morph into the genocidal proportions now threatened by Boko Haram—an Islamist terror group bent on extinguishing Christianity in northern Nigeria—and beyond.

An estimated 1 million Nigerians have fled their homes over the last six years of Boko Haram’s insurgency, and Islamic terrorists have burned thousands of churches and Christian homes, while conquering a swath of territory the size of Belgium.

Boko Haram militants killed an estimated 10,000 people last year alone, largely Christians targeted for their faith. That makes the rate of Nigerian violence comparable to last year’s civilian deaths in Iraq, where Islamic State militants are terrorizing that country.

On the day I spoke with Kwashi by phone in late February, the archbishop was absorbing bad news: A day earlier, a young man and his wife—both members of Kwashi’s church in Jos, the capital of Plateau State and part of Nigeria’s Middle Belt—were shot dead by unknown assailants while traveling home on a motorbike.

“It sends real shivers along the spines of Christians, especially young people,” he said. “Because the future is just bleak.”

It’s also a bleak backdrop for presidential elections. On the streets of Jos, giant campaign posters bear the faces of the two candidates locked in the country’s closest presidential contest since military rule ended in 1999. One billboard shows the incumbent, President Goodluck Jonathan, smiling next to a pledge: “I assure you of fresh air in Nigeria.” Another shows his opponent, former Nigerian military dictator Muhammadu Buhari, standing next to a question: “Who would you trust with your life?”

THAT QUESTION CONFOUNDS MILLIONS of Nigerians, especially Christians living in regions where concerns about life and death are a daily reality. For them, the presidential contest set for March 28 in Africa’s most populous nation isn’t just about subsistence—it’s about survival.

And the choices are a challenge: Some Christians are wary of Jonathan—a professing Christian from the south whose administration has done little to thwart the massive killing and displacement of Christians over the last four years. But they’re also wary of his opponent, Buhari, a Muslim who ruled Nigeria as a military dictator in the early 1980s, and once said he endorsed the idea of Sharia law for the whole country.

Jonathan brushes off charges that he hasn’t protected Christians, and says he needs more funds to equip the Nigerian military to fight the well-armed militia. (Critics charge government officials’ poor management and corruption have diverted funds needed for more weaponry.)

Buhari rejects claims he would side with extremists, and says he wouldn’t try to force an Islamist agenda across the nation. But beleaguered Christians in northern and central Nigeria are unsure.

In Abuja, the nation’s capital, a Christian (who asked not to be identified for security reasons) says opinion among the Christians he knows is sharply divided. “Even though we are martyred under Jonathan, we don’t know if it might be worse if Buhari comes in,” he said. “It’s like choosing between the devil and the deep blue sea.”

For Buhari, an unwelcome endorsement has stoked voter worries: Boko Haram leaders reportedly endorsed his candidacy.

It’s a strange claim, given the terror group’s determination to overthrow the government and establish a caliphate, but Christians terrorized by Boko Haram find the group’s approval deeply disturbing, despite Buhari’s pledges to fight the terrorists, and despite his choice of a Christian attorney and pastor as a running mate.

Meanwhile, Jonathan has battled allegations of massive corruption during his presidency, including claims that his government squandered billions in oil money. He denies wrongdoing, but the claims have dogged his reelection bid.

In the last few weeks, the president also has begun battling something else: Boko Haram. Election officials postponed the presidential contests—originally set for Feb. 14—because military officials said they planned to wipe out Boko Haram in six weeks.

Some saw the sudden offensive as an attempt to bolster support for the incumbent president facing a tight race, and critics noted Jonathan has struggled to confront Boko Haram over the last four years.

Still, Nigerian soldiers, assisted by neighboring countries like Chad and Niger, retook some of the towns held by Boko Haram and rescued dozens of hostages during February.

It’s a welcome development, but it’s unclear whether the early successes will be enough to convince Christians and others that Jonathan is serious about protecting Christians and Muslims in the north from Boko Haram’s rampage.

For now, the president must also focus on protecting the country on Election Day. In the last presidential contest in 2011, Jonathan prevailed over Buhari. The next day, Muslim rioters began a rampage that killed hundreds of Christians and destroyed over 700 churches in 12 Nigerian states. Experts warn similar violence could erupt during the March elections.

That makes life tense for Christians living in areas targeted by Boko Haram. In the city of Maiduguri—once the headquarters of Boko Haram—thousands of Christians and others have taken refuge after Boko Haram attacks in other parts of the northeast.

Militants attacked residents with a suicide bombing on Jan. 10 using a little girl in a crowded market: The explosion killed at least 20 people. Late last year, two female suicide bombers in the same market killed dozens. During the last week of January, local militias and soldiers in Maiduguri repelled a massive Boko Haram attack on the city and killed dozens of insurgents.

One Christian resident said in a phone interview: “Everybody is living in fear in Maiduguri.”

The active member of a local church fled the city several years ago when militants threatened his life. He returned to take care of his family, even as terrorist threats continued and several members of his local church died in attacks.

The Christian said believers continue to meet in churches across Maiduguri every Sunday, despite the threats. He says worship remains robust: “If you could come to Maiduguri and see how we are worshipping, you wouldn’t think Boko Haram was a threat.”

Displaced Christians also continue to worship in strange cities and far-flung refugee camps. A month before the March 28 presidential elections, leaders in the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria made a dangerous trek by car, bus, and motorcycle to visit Christian refugees in a camp in Cameroon.

They delivered aid to help purchase food and supplies for the refugees, and they conducted a Sunday worship service in an open space. More than 10,000 people attended.

The Church of the Brethren has experienced deep losses during the Boko Haram insurgency. A list of statistics on the denomination’s website tallies the destruction:

The loss of Christians in northern Nigeria means the loss of schools and other help provided by Christian groups. Nigerians escaping from Boko Haram–held areas say the terrorist group provides little for its captives. In January, one woman who escaped Boko Haram told the Reuters news service the militants looted the village and gave residents stolen rice to cook: “People are going hungry.”

When the Nigerian Red Cross enters a town retaken from Boko Haram by the military, the first thing its aid workers do is collect and bury corpses. Aliyu Maikano, a Red Cross official, told Reuters when they came to Mubi in September, survivors were starving for food and water: “There was no drinking water because in most of the wells you’ll find dead bodies.”

By late February, election officials didn’t have plans to facilitate voting for Nigerians in refugee camps outside the country. After a fact-finding trip to Nigeria in February, Emmanuel Ogebe, a Nigerian and U.S.-based attorney, reported Christians in some northern areas had been warned by neighbors not to vote on Election Day.

Other Christians said their voter cards had been destroyed. “More chilling in the northwest,” Ogebe wrote, “Christians reported warnings that regardless who won, they would be ‘slaughtered like rams.’”

FROM A DRONE BASE IN CHAD, the U.S. military conducts surveillance flights to monitor Boko Haram, and the United States has provided some training and equipment to the Nigerian military. Some U.S. legislators have called for sending Special Forces to help the Nigerian military defeat the terrorists, but those proposals haven’t gained traction.

In recent U.S. congressional testimony, Robert Jackson, acting assistant secretary of state for African affairs, told legislators U.S. officials were helping with election monitoring in the upcoming Nigerian contests. His testimony about the Boko Haram campaign didn’t mention the group’s Islamist motivation or the massacre of Christians. Instead, Jackson mentioned the need to fight poverty in Nigeria.

During the same hearing, Peter Pham of the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council was more blunt. Pham warned the committee that Boko Haram increasingly was identifying with Islamic State militants in its videos. (On March 2, Boko Haram gruesomely imitated the Islamic State by releasing a video showing the beheadings of two men. The terrorists claimed the victims were spies.) Pham said the upcoming elections could bring violence by terrorists who “strategically have every reason to tarnish the poll lest it result in a government that stands in the way of their goal of establishing their ghoulish caricature of God’s kingdom on earth.”

For now, Christians in northern Nigeria are pursuing God’s kingdom on earth by praying for peace. Archbishop Kwashi says churches are meeting to pray for God’s mercy because “if we do not have peace, we are unable to preach the gospel. ... And it is the Christian gospel that cares for people.”

Two days after our phone conversation, two bombings in Jos reportedly killed 15 people.

The Christian church member in Maiduguri says believers continue to meet on Sundays despite insecurity. He said church members sometimes meet in smaller groups nearer to their homes if they hear of security threats, but the danger doesn’t keep them from worship.

When it comes to the elections, he says he hopes for the best, but doesn’t put his hope in the outcome of presidential contests. “Sometimes I worry, but as a Christian I know—I know—that God is the first thing,” he says. “He is our hope. He is our security. We are here for the sake of Christ.”