Tag: Nigeria

Nigerian student arrested after converting from Islam to Christianity

January 16, 2018 Nigeria Converts, ECWA, Islamic extremism, Jama'atu Nasril Islam, Jos, Nasarawa, Nigeria, Plateau

A Nigerian university student who converted from Islam to Christianity has been arrested by state security forces, as has the man who introduced her to Christianity. Nabila Umar Sanda, 19, is a student at Bingham University in Karu, in the central state of Nasarawa, which is owned by one of . . . Read More

‘Chibok girl’ asks parents to ‘embrace Islam’ in Boko Haram video

January 15, 2018 Nigeria Boko Haram, Borno, Chibok girls, Nigeria

Boko Haram has released a video purporting to show some of the Chibok schoolgirls still in captivity. “In the video, a girl dressed in a full niqab [Islamic dress] appeals to her parents to embrace Islam,” the BBC’s Stephanie Hegarty reports. “Dressed in a blue and white niqab, the young . . . Read More

Fulani herdsmen ‘terrorists’ ‘pampered’ in Nigeria’s Middle Belt

January 15, 2018 Nigeria Adamawa, Benue, ECWA, Fulani herdsmen, Muhammadu Buhari, Nasarawa, Nigeria, Taraba

A spate of violence attributed to ethnic Fulani herdsmen in central Nigeria has seen dozens killed since the turn of year. In Benue State, violence has claimed 80 lives and forced 80,000 to flee. The funerals on 11 January for 73 of the victims in Makurdi, Benue’s capital, were broadcast . . . Read More

Report: ‘Islamic war of expansion’ underpins ‘religious cleansing’ in southern Kaduna, Nigeria

January 15, 2018 Nigeria Fulani herdsmen, Islamic extremism, Kaduna, Middle Belt, Nigeria

A new report highlights Nigeria’s failed attempts, over decades, to deal with the violence perpetrated by Fulani Muslim herdsmen in one of the country’s Middle Belt states. It concludes that continued failings will force Christians to leave the area in a “religious cleansing” that is part of a drive for . . . Read More

Nigeria: British missionary’s kidnapper killed

January 12, 2018 Nigeria Delta State, Ian Squire, Kidnapping, Nigeria

The Nigerian Army says the leader of a gang responsible for the death of a British aid worker has been killed, the BBC reports. Peregbakumo Oyawerikumo was arrested by a special military task force. According to the army that task force was then ambushed on its way back to the . . . Read More

‘Unprecedented’ persecution of Egypt’s Christians heads 2018 World Watch List

January 10, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Africa, Anti-conversion law, Boko Haram, Cairo, Central Asia, Churches, Converts, Copts, Egypt, Eritrea, Fulani herdsmen, Hindu nationalism, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Jharkhand, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Maldives, Marawi, Middle Belt, Middle East, Mindanao, Minorities, Nepal, Nigeria, North Korea, Philippines, Somalia, Southeast Asia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Upper Egypt

More Christians abused in India than in all other countries combined; Nepal enters list Islamic extremists driven out of Iraq and Syria are behind a new intensity of Christian persecution in surrounding countries, says global charity Open Doors in its latest annual survey of countries where it is most difficult . . . Read More

6 Nigerian nuns released 2 months after kidnap

January 9, 2018 Nigeria Catholics, Edo, Kidnapping, Lagos, Niger Delta, Nigeria

Altar in the Catholic church in Bauchi, northeast Nigeria. (Photo: World Watch Monitor, 2010)

Six Catholic nuns from a convent in the southern Nigerian state of Edo were released on Sunday (7 January), two months after they were kidnapped by armed men. The nuns, belonging to the Sisters of the Eucharistic Heart of Christ, were released after police intervention and were said to be . . . Read More

US State Department adds Pakistan to religious-freedom watch list

January 5, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Central African Republic, China, Eritrea, Iran, Minorities, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Russia, Sanctions, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, USA, Uzbekistan, Vietnam

Burial of victims of a suicide attack on the Methodist Bethel Church in Quetta, Pakistan, on Sunday 17 December 2017 in which at least 9 people were killed. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The US State Department has placed Pakistan on a “Special Watch List” for severe violators of religious freedom, it announced yesterday (4 January) with the publication of its annual list of ‘Countries of Particular Concern’. The announcement comes as the US government cuts security aid to Pakistan, saying the country . . . Read More

Another Chibok girl rescued, 112 still missing

January 5, 2018 Nigeria Boko Haram, Borno, Chibok girls, Nigeria

The Nigerian Army says it has rescued one of the schoolgirls abducted by the radical Islamic group Boko Haram from the north-eastern town of Chibok in 2014. The girl, identified as Salomi Pogu, was found on 4 January in Pulka, in the north-eastern state of Borno, said the Army in . . . Read More

23 Catholic missionaries killed in 2017

January 4, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Catholics, Gloria Argoti, Jacques Hamel, Mexico, Missionaries, Nigeria, Paolo Dall’Oglio, Philippines, Samaan Shehata, Younan Abdulla

Mourners at the funeral of the popular activist Filipino priest Fr. Marcelito Paez

At least 23 people working for the Catholic Church were killed in 2017, a Vatican agency has said. For the eighth consecutive year the place where most violent deaths occurred was America, where 11 people lost their lives. Ten pastoral workers were killed in Africa, five in Nigeria, and two . . . Read More

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