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.
Church welcomes US designation of Boko Haram as Foreign Terrorist Organisation
One of the major organisations representing Christians in Nigeria has welcomed the US State Department’s announcement on Nov 13 that it has designated Boko Haram a Foreign Terrorist group (FTO). The Department also classified its splinter group Ansaru as an FTO. Boko Haram is believed to have links to Al-Qaeda […]
U.S. tags Boko Haram as terrorists
The United States has made official what Nigeria’s churches have long asserted: Boko Haram is a terrorist organisation. The state department announced on Thursday it has designated Boko Haram a “foreign terrorist organisation”, and as “specially designated global terrorists”. The Islamist insurgent group “is responsible for thousands of deaths in northeast […]
Boko Haram killing spree claims 110 Nigerians
The militant Islamist sect Boko Haram is suspected of killing at least 110 people of various faiths across Nigeria during the past week, prompting the country’s top Catholic bishop to declare the rebel movement “has no limits.” On Thursday, Sept. 26, gunmen killed Rev. Augustine Yohana, a Catholic priest, and […]
Violence locks down Nigerian town
The largely Christian Nigerian town of Kafanchan is under 24-hour curfew after an outburst of violence Friday that left 10 people dead. News reports vary on the details of the violence, but generally agree that it involved two groups of youths – those indigenous to southern Kaduna state and those […]
Archbishop kidnapped in Nigeria
Police in Nigeria are looking for the armed men who kidnapped the country’s second most senior Anglican archbishop, Ignatius Kattey, reports the BBC. He was later freed.
Report: Nigeria violence is sectarian
Boko Haram is the foremost perpetrator of religiously motivated violence in Nigeria, claims a new report issued by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. The report, issued Aug. 19 as an update to a July 2012 report, documents dozens of Boko Haram attacks on churches and individual Christians since […]
Boko Haram under investigation for crimes against humanity
At least 1,200 people have been killed in the last four years in Northern Nigeria by the militant Islamist group Boko Haram, according to a preliminary investigation by the International Criminal Court. The Court’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said on Monday (August 5) the ICC is investigating Boko Haram for […]
Bombs in Nigerian Christian district kill at least 12
Police say 12 people are dead after multiple explosions on Monday night that rocked the Christian Sabon Gari area of Kano State in northern Nigeria, despite continuing government efforts to restore peace. No group has claimed responsibility for the July 29 blasts, but it is widely believed that the outlawed violent […]
Former Nigerian Governor allows ‘under-age’ marriage loophole into Constitution
The first Governor to introduce sharia law into a Nigerian State (Zamfara, in 2000), now a Senator, has succeeded in stopping the removal of a clause from Nigeria’s Constitution, which critics say remains a loophole through which marriage of under-age girls remains possible under sharia law. It happened during the […]
Is conflict in Nigeria really about persecution of Christians by radical Muslims?
St Rita’s Catholic Church in Kaduna, north-central Nigeria, after a suicide bomb attack in October 2012.World Watch Monitor Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan was reported last week to have said that statistics show that more Muslims than Christians have been killed by Boko Haram. Speaking at his Presidential villa in […]