The Nigerian army has had some success subduing Islamist group Boko Haram, but Christians are still being killed in Nigeria. Many of the killings are carried out by nomadic Hausa-Fulani herdsmen, a largely Muslim ethnic group that frequently targets the more settled Christian farming communities of central Nigeria. Meanwhile, 12 of Nigeria’s northern states employ Sharia (Islamic law), and Christians in these states face discrimination and restrictions in accessing community resources, such as clean water, health clinics, and higher education.
Blasphemy rumour leads to arson, 8 dead
A mob, outraged by reports that Islam’s holy prophet had been insulted, burned down a house in northwest Nigeria 22 Aug., killing eight people inside. Police confirmed the incident, the news organization . It began when a student of Abdu Gusau Polytechnic school in Nigeria’s Zamfara state was alleged to […]
Maiduguri trauma centre for Boko Haram victims
An Anglican church in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State in northern Nigeria, is building a clinic and trauma centre for the victims of Boko Haram attacks. The Bishop of the Maiduguri Diocese, the Most Rev. Emmanuel Mani, said the trauma centre will be open to people of all faiths. […]
Fulani attack kills 10 in Christian area
Ten people have been killed after another attack by ethnic Fulani herdsmen in the early hours of 16 Aug. in the Christian-dominated Jema area of Nigeria’s Kaduna state. Earlier this month, after an attack on three villages in the same area. Attacks by the herdsmen have claimed hundreds of lives. […]
Nigerian Christians return to rebuild lives in communities liberated from Boko Haram
Nigerian Christians displaced by Boko Haram are beginning to return home. They are being encouraged by the government, which has won back territory from the insurgents but which is also struggling to provide enough aid. World Watch Monitor received a first-hand account from church worker Isaac*, describing day-to-day living now […]
Chibok girls shown ‘alive’
A video released by the radical Islamist group, Boko Haram, appears to show some of the schoolgirls they abducted in April 2014 from the northern Nigerian town of Chibok. The footage begins with a shot of a masked man carrying a gun, who demands the release of militants. Speaking in […]
Nigerian Fulani attacks ‘kill 1,269 since 2013’
Attacks by Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria’s central state of Benue have claimed at least 1,269 lives, a study by Premium Times magazine has shown. On February 21, in an attack in Agatu, for instance, one of the most serious in Nigeria in recent years – over 500 villagers were reportedly […]
Families of murdered Nigerian pastors mourn their loss
Joseph Kurah, murdered on 30 June, and Eunice Elisha, who was killed 10 days later.Twitter: @uncanny_sam / World Watch Monitor Thousands of people, including journalists from around the world, attended the funeral of Father Jacques Hamel, the French priest murdered on 26 July while presiding over Mass. The attack […]
More attacks on Christians in northern Nigeria
Attacks against Christians in Nigeria continue, particularly at the hands of Fulani herdsmen. On 2 August, according to local media, at least 30 people were killed in north-eastern Nigeria in the Christian-dominated Demsa area of Adamawa State in an attack on the village of Kodomun and others nearby. “The attackers invaded […]
Nigerian women lose husbands, homes and sometimes their minds to extremist violence
For a woman, the loss of her husband is the beginning of hardship for her and her children.CCEPI Forty-something Agnes, from Benue state in Nigeria’s Middle Belt region, was married to university lecturer John while still young; the couple had nine children. One morning in 2008 Agnes rose to […]
UN condemns ‘barbaric’ Boko Haram
The United Nations has accused the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram of “almost unimaginable” violence and brutality in Nigeria. Stephen O’Brien, its global humanitarian co-ordinator, said the militant group’s actions had forced millions to flee, and that more than nine million people in the Lake Chad region need humanitarian assistance. […]