World Tour: Nigeria’s unrelenting violence

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LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: ongoing persecution in Nigeria.

Multiple attacks, from killings to abductions, took place in different parts of the country last week.

The violence comes as more global attention has come to Nigeria and the persecution of Christians.

Here’s Africa reporter Onize Oduah with today’s World Tour.

AUDIO: [SINGING]

ONIZE ODUAH: Community members in western Kwara state rejoiced this weekend after learning that security forces rescued some 38 abducted Christians. It was a different scene a week ago:

SOUND: [CHURCH ATTACK]

Worshippers were praying inside the Christ Apostolic Church late last Tuesday … when gunshots instantly halted their worship.

They ran for cover as gunmen entered the church. A video livestream showed an elderly woman struggling to flee as the armed attackers went after those trying to hide.

At least three people died in the attack.

The abduction and rescue comes as Nigeria faces an onslaught of several deadly attacks, sparking fear and uncertainty.

Early on Friday, gunmen kidnapped more than 300 children from St. Mary’s School in northcentral Niger state. School officials said about 50 of the children escaped. 12 teachers also remain behind with the abductors.

And in northwest Kebbi state, armed men stormed into a public school last Monday and carted away at least 25 Muslim schoolgirls. They also killed the school’s vice principal.

The attacks have prompted some school closures.

Stella Shaibu joined other parents picking up their kids at the government boarding school for girls in Bwari, the outskirts of Abuja.

STELLA SHAIBU: I don't know why a government, Nigeria as a whole like this the manpower that we have, we are lacking securities for our children.

Also last week, insurgents from the Islamic State West Africa Province claimed responsibility for killing Brigadier-General Musa Uba.

He is one of the highest-ranked military officials killed by fighters since the decades-old insurgency began.

Last Monday, gunmen also attacked a Roman Catholic Church in northwest Kaduna state. They killed one person and abducted the Rev. Bobbo Paschal, the parish priest. Paschal is still in captivity.

The violence comes less than a month after President Donald Trump designated Nigeria as a country of particular concern. He also threatened a possible military intervention if Nigerian authorities fail to quell the attacks against Christians.

But Nigerian authorities have repeatedly denied the persecution reports.

Yusuf Tuggar is Nigeria’s foreign affairs minister.

YUSUF TUGGAR: It is not about religion, it is about what is happening in the larger region, the terrorist activities. It is not about persecution of a particular religion.

But last Tuesday, the U.S. Mission in the United Nations organized an event to push for stronger efforts to protect Christians in Nigeria.

Mike Waltz is the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

MIKE WALTZ: This is not random violence. This is genocide wearing the mask of chaos.

Two days later, the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Africa listened to the Trump administration explain its plan to respond to the killings in Nigeria.

Jonathan Pratt is a senior official at the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs.

JONATHAN PRATT: This plan will consider U.S. state and Treasury engagement on sanctions as well as possible Department of War engagement on counterterrorism and other efforts to protect religious communities.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met last week with a Nigerian delegation led by National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu. They discussed ways that Nigeria could make tangible progress towards ending the killings.

Sean Nelson is the senior counsel for global religious freedom at the Alliance Defending Freedom International. He says the United States is watching Nigeria’s response closely.

SEAN NELSON: It seems that there's not been a real response to prosecute those individuals, to go and secure these areas to stop this and making sure the impunity for attackers ends. And so anything that comes up in the next few weeks, I think, will be measures to really, really put pressure on the Nigerian government to make those tangible steps.

That’s this week’s World Tour, I’m Onize Oduah.

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