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Nigeria

• Dozens Slain in Ongoing Violence

  

  Human rights organizations monitoring the ongoing violence taking place against Christians in Nigeria are now raising concerns of an imminent genocide. More than 50 believers have been killed in the month of March and over a dozen more during the first week of April. Since the beginning of 2020, at least 410 Christians have been murdered. Most of the violence was perpetrated by jihadist Fulani militants. For more details on the suffering facing Nigeria's Christians, go to our country report.

• Kidnapped Girl Successfully Escapes

  

  On the night of January 5th, Sadiya Amos had just finished a New Year's celebration when she was abducted. Two days later, her father was forced to attend a Sharia court where he was accused of preventing Sadiya from converting to Islam. A fake birth certificate was presented as evidence that she was 19 years old, rather than her true age of 17. Throughout the proceedings, the court refused to allow the teen's parents any access to her, nor let them know where she was located.

• Destructive Rampage of Militant Mob Attack

  

  More than a hundred Boko Haram militants stormed into the town of Garkida on February 21st, causing terrible chaos, loss and destruction. According to reports, they killed two soldiers at a military checkpoint before entering the town where they spent hours ransacking, looting and killing. By the time order was restored, at least three church buildings were destroyed, along with a police station, hospital, and an unspecified number of houses. During the compilation of this report, the total number of people killed or kidnapped had not yet been determined by local officials.

• Kidnapped Pastor Executed

  

  A leader of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and pastor of a Brethren church, Lawan Andimi, was executed by Boko Haram terrorists on January 20th. Pastor Lawan was kidnapped during a raid in the town of Michika on January 3rd (read more). Shortly after, a video was released in which the pastor speaks of his faith in God's sovereignty despite the situation. He told his family: "God is still alive.... Don't cry, don't worry, thank God for everything." News of his death also came via video, sent to the same journalist, showing the beheadings of Pastor Lawan and an unnamed soldier.

• Church Leader Kidnapped in Raid

  

  A leader of the Christian Association of Nigeria was kidnapped on January 3rd when Boko Haram raided the town of Michika which is located near the border with Cameroon. Fighters came into town with a convoy of vehicles. Nigerian soldiers readily responded and, in the confusion, town people fled into the bush. While the military drove out the attackers, killing most of them, Pastor Lawan Andimi was taken hostage as the remaining terrorists fled.

• Eleven Christians Reportedly Killed

  

  In a video released on December 26th, ISIS shows the murder of eleven Christians, claiming that it was committed in retaliation for the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the ISIS leader who died during a raid in Syria by U.S. special forces in October.

• Captives Confirm Leah Sharibu is Alive

  

  A video was recently released by the Islamic State West Africa Province, commonly known as Boko Haram. In the video, eleven abducted Christian men are shown. The spokesperson of their group is a local college lecturer, Bitrus Bwala, who was kidnapped on November 27th.

• Release of Captured Students and Staff

  

  The six students and two staff members of a Christian-run school in Kaduna state who were kidnapped on October 3rd have thankfully been released on October 26th. To review a previously posted report providing more information on the original incident, read this page.

• Kidnapping in a Christian High School

  

  Gunmen abducted six girls and two staff members from a Christian-run boarding school on October 3rd. They forced their way into The Engravers' College in the village of Kakau Daji, Kaduna State in the early morning. According to witnesses, the attackers were Fulani herdsmen, a group responsible for considerable violence in recent years.

• Two Aid Workers Executed

  

  The militant Islamic group Boko Haram released a video on September 22nd showing the execution of Lawrence Duna Dacighir and Godfrey Ali Shikagham. These two Christian men had left their homes in Abuja and travelled to Maiduguri in order to help build shelters for those displaced by recent violence.

  In the video, one of the three terrorists vowed to kill every Christian they captured, saying it would be done in revenge for Muslims who were killed in the country's past conflicts. It is unclear from the video exactly when the slain men were executed. For more reports on the violence facing Nigeria's Christians, go to our country report.