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.
Nigeria churches unite for first time to address violence in north
The region of Africa that today is northern Nigeria has been governed by Muslim sultans and emirs for centuries, through British colonial rule and the arrival of Christian missionaries in the 19th Century, and into independence in the 1960s. The northern Christian population grew rapidly, to the point where Christians […]
Causes of Chibok kidnapping to be investigated
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered a new investigation into the April 2014 kidnapping of more than 200 school girls in the northeastern town of Chibok, and the government’s response. The girls were taken from their dormitories by the Islamist Boko Haram militant sect, sparking global outrage and promises by […]
18 Chibok parents have died as wait for girls goes on
As Christians around the world prepare to celebrate Christmas with close friends and family members, the Christians in Chibok prepare for another Christmas without their girls. Below, World Watch Monitor speaks to Yakubu Nkiki Maina, the chairman of the Chibok Abducted School Girls’ Parents’ Association. His 18-year-old daughter, Maimuna, was […]
Chibok girls not among 900 rescued
None of the 900 people freed from Boko Haram captivity earlier this month are victims of the 2014 kidnapping of schoolgirls in Chibok, Nigeria, according to news reports. Cameroon said 2 Dec. it had freed the 900, held by the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency, in Nigeria’s northern region. As , […]
Facebook safe button turned on after Nigeria bomb
Facebook activated its safety check feature after the suicide attack on 17 November that killed 34 and injured 80 in the north-eastern Nigerian city of Yola, . The social networking site had been criticised for activating the feature after the attack on Paris, but not for other atrocities. The safety […]
Woman who survived 5 weeks in Boko Haram camp speaks for first time
Mercy, a 22-year-old woman from Borno State in north-east Nigeria, was abducted in June 2014 when Boko Haram overran the small town of Gwoza where she lived. She speaks here for the first time about her five weeks in captivity, where she was forced into a marriage, made to watch […]
Northern Nigerians ‘created Boko Haram’
A Nigerian bishop has accused northern Nigerian leaders of paving the way for Boko Haram. At a conference organised by the Islamic Welfare Foundation at the Fountain University in Osogbo, Osun State, the Catholic bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, said “a hypocritical elite … laid the foundation for what is […]
Ethnic cleansing of Christians in central Nigeria too?
The aftermath of a suicide bombing in Kano State, northern Nigeria.World Watch Monitor Everyone has heard of the violent atrocities committed by Boko Haram in northeast Nigeria, but Taraba State, in what’s called the Middle Belt of the country, is also the scene of severe violence: Hausa-Fulani Muslim herdsmen […]
Nigeria: 338 rescued from Boko Haram
Nigeria’s army says that it has rescued 338 people – predominantly women and children – from Boko Haram. “Troops of 28 Task Force Brigade Nigerian Army deployed at Bitta and Pridang carried out a successful raid on suspected Boko Haram terrorists’ camps at Bulajilin and Manawashe villages along Bita and […]
Nigeria stops all transport in Borno
Cars, public transport, horses, donkeys and camels have been banned in Nigeria’s Borno state until the end of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha on Friday (25 Sept.), in an attempt to guard against another terrorist attack by Boko Haram. Fifty-four people were killed in an attack in Maiduguri, the […]