Another attack against Nigerian Christians

Another massacre has devastated the Christian community in Nigeria. On Pentecost Sunday, Nigerian worshippers went to St. Francis Catholic Church in the predominantly Christian Ondo state to commemorate the day Christ’s disciples received the Holy Spirit. During worship, attackers opened fire and detonated explosives.

The Associated Press reports, “Videos appearing to be from the scene of the attack showed church worshippers lying in pools of blood while people around them wailed.” The gunmen did not pick and choose who they shot, firing at men, women, and children. According to The New York Times, there were at least four attackers and a government official today said 22 worshippers died and 50 were injured.

Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and is roughly divided between a majority Christian south and a Muslim north. This massacre occurred in Ondo, considered one of the country’s most peaceful states, suggesting that militant targeting of Christians is now spreading beyond Muslim territories and coming to the heart of Christian communities in the south.

Killing Christians in Nigeria seems easy and simple for militants. It appears the shooters planned for more than a mere killing of Christian worshippers. A state lawmaker told AP that the attackers abducted the presiding priest, presumably so the killers could demand a huge ransom.

Sadly, the abduction of Nigerian Christians is not new.

A week earlier, the head of the country’s Methodist Church was abducted along with two other clerics. Last month, two other Catholic priests were kidnapped in Katsina—the home state of the Nigerian president.

These examples demonstrate what life looks like for Nigerian Christians, who are easy targets for extremists and terrorists.

Last week, we learned of the slaughter of a female Christian college student in Nigeria after a Muslim mob unjustly accused her of blaspheming Muhammad. This killing occurred in northern Nigeria.

Thus, whether Christians are in the predominantly Muslim north—like the student—or in the predominantly Christian south—like the worshippers in the Catholic Church in Ondo—they seem to be an easy target of slaughter and persecution. And the world is watching, or is it?

In January, AP reported that Islamic extremists had abducted 17 girls in northeast Nigeria. These Muslims are from Boko Haram, a radical militant group that largely follows the same patterns and actions as ISIS. Some of the girls were 10, 11, and 12 years old. In addition to abducting girls, the terrorists killed many Christians and burned down two churches during the same attack.

But abducting Christian girls is not new.

In April 2014, the same Boko Haram kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from Chibok in northern Nigeria, many of whom were killed and are still missing. According to International Christian Concern, the abduction of these Christian girls launched “ongoing persecution” against Christian communities in Nigeria.

According to Open Doors’ 2022 World Watch List, cases of persecution and abduction of Christians have placed Nigeria at the top of its ranking of anti-Christian countries. The report identifies Nigeria as one of the most violent countries against Christians with more than 2,500 believers kidnapped last year compared to 1,000 in 2020.

In response to Sunday’s massacre in the Catholic Church, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who is Sunni Muslim, said, “Only fiends from the nether region could have conceived and carried out such dastardly act.”

But very little has been done to combat persecution against Nigerian Christians in recent years. While no one has yet declared responsibility for this attack, we can affirm that persecution of Christians in Nigeria is escalating, whether by militant Islamic groups or by other means. Still, in commenting on the attack, the BBC reports that armed groups are the cause of increased violence in the country. But, armed groups in Nigeria have been more distinct and clearly identified than many media outlets would like to admit. In the past eight years, explicitly Islamic terrorist groups claimed responsibility for the killing and displacement of tens of thousands of Nigerian Christians.

Our Christian brothers and sisters are persecuted heavily in Nigeria. While we all mourn with the afflicted families, the world has to wake up to the atrocities committed against Christians in Africa’s most populous country.