Tag: Nigeria

Christian Association of Nigeria asks President about Fulani violence

November 11, 2017 Nigeria Christian Association of Nigeria, Fulani herdsmen, Middle Belt, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Plateau

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the main umbrella organisation of the major Churches, has expressed concern to President Muhammadu Buhari over ongoing violence by Fulani herdsmen in the country’s Middle Belt states. Throughout September and October, repeated attacks against Christian communities left more than 75 dead, according to an . . . Read More

Nigeria: 9 dead as suspected Fulani herdsmen ambush Christians in Plateau

November 9, 2017 Nigeria Christian Association of Nigeria, Church of Christ in Nigeria, ECWA, Fulani herdsmen, Nigeria, Plateau

Nine Christians were shot dead by suspected Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria’s central Plateau State on Tuesday night (7 November), as they returned from a weekly village market. Four more were injured during the incident in the Riyom Local Government Area (LGA), which happened at around 7.30pm. Seven were killed instantly, . . . Read More

Nigeria: girl, 13, kidnapped to be converted to Islam, freed four days later

November 6, 2017 Nigeria Boko Haram, Christian Association of Nigeria, Nigeria, Yobe

A pastor’s 13-year-old daughter, kidnapped in northeast Nigeria last week to be converted to Islam and married off, was released yesterday (5 November) after four days in captivity. Hauwa Dadi, from the village of Gashua in Yobe State, is the daughter of the former local secretary of the Christian Association . . . Read More

UK optician kidnapped and killed in Niger Delta, three other medical aid workers rescued

November 6, 2017 Nigeria Africa, Delta State, Ian Squire, Kidnapping, Niger Delta, Nigeria

A British optician, kidnapped with a missionary couple and another optician while working in the Niger Delta of Nigeria, has died. Ian Squire founded a Christian charity, Mission for Vision, in 2003 to “improve the lives of those living in the poorest regions in the developing world”. Once a year he . . . Read More

Nigeria: cattle-grazing ban seeks to end Fulani violence

November 2, 2017 Nigeria Benue, ECWA, Middle Belt, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Plateau

A law imposing a ban on cattle grazing has come into force today (2 November) in Nigeria’s central state of Benue. The ban follows years of deadly clashes between nomadic Fulani herdsman and local farmers in Nigeria’s Middle Belt. According to the BBC, the new law requires everyone to keep . . . Read More

Cameroon: 6 siblings kidnapped by Boko Haram escape to safety

October 31, 2017 Cameroon Boko Haram, Cameroon, Children, Far North, Nigeria

Six siblings kidnapped from Moskota in the Far North region of Cameroon on 17 August have been found near the border with Nigeria by a group of vigilantes. A local source told World Watch Monitor that the children, between the ages of three and 15, had been taken to Nigeria, . . . Read More

New UNHRC members criticised for ‘dismal rights record’

October 23, 2017 Afghanistan, Human rights, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Religious freedom, UN

Afghanistan and Pakistan were among the 15 States elected last week (16 October) to serve on the UN Human Rights Council, with human rights groups calling it a “crisis in the UN and its intergovernmental system”. Maliha Lodhi, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN, called it an “endorsement of Pakistan’s strong . . . Read More

Nigeria’s Christians condemn killings in Plateau, urge government to intervene

October 18, 2017 Nigeria Fulani herdsmen, Jos, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Plateau

Worried by the recent incessant killings in Plateau state, north-central Nigeria, the Christians in the north under the aegis of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) have urged the government to intervene. The Chairman of the Northern CAN, Rev. Yakubu Pam, expressed concern that people who had lived together peacefully . . . Read More

Niger: pastor’s daughter kidnapped by suspected Boko Haram militants

October 17, 2017 Niger Boko Haram, Charlie Hebdo, Diffa, Lake Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Sahel, West Africa

Street scene in Zinder, Niger's second biggest town, where thousands of people fled to after Boko Haram first attacked Diffa in February 2015. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The teenage daughter of a pastor was kidnapped on 16 October in Diffa, south-eastern Niger, in what appears to be the first targeted kidnapping of a Christian by Boko Haram-affiliated militants in the West African nation. Aphodiya Garba Maida, 17, daughter of a pastor with the EERN (Église Évangélique de . . . Read More

Behind Nigeria persecution ‘lies prejudice, weak leadership, corruption, historic grievance’

October 13, 2017 Nigeria Boko Haram, Catholics, Islamic extremism, Nigeria, Sharia

Support for the Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram is a reaction to Western-backed corruption, colonial-era intervention and weak Nigerian leadership, a Catholic archbishop has said. Archbishop Matthew Kukah of Sokoto in north-western Nigeria told World Watch Monitor that sympathy for the extremist group in northern Nigeria’s majority-Muslim states was fuelled . . . Read More

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