Nigeria “killing field for Christians:” Elderly Christian man killed during rescue operation
by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – A 78-year-old Christian man in Nigeria’s Kogi state was killed Saturday during a rescue operation to free him from his Fulani herdsmen abductors, Morning Star News (MSN) reports. Julius Oshadumo was among an estimated 3,000 Christians abducted by jihadists in Nigeria this year; he died on the same day that Fulani militants murdered three other Christians in Kogi state.
Together with two other Christian men, Oshadumo was kidnapped from the Evangelical Winning All church in Okedayo-Kabba on September 19, MSN reports. Oshadumo’s wife was seriously wounded in the same attack and is still receiving hospital treatment. Another church member, Reuben Gbenga, 45, was shot dead.
“There were six armed herdsmen who stormed the church while I was conducting the call to worship, and they were shooting randomly,” the church’s Pastor Atayi told MSN. “They disrupted the worship service as members of the church scampered to escape. One of the gunmen chased after me and was shooting at me. Miraculously, I escaped with no serious injuries. I only returned after the gunmen had retreated from my church.”
Attempting to rescue Oshadumo and the other two Christians with him on October 2, Nigerian security forces stormed the Fulani enclave the believers were held in on the outskirts of Kabba, MSN said. Oshadumo was killed in the ensuing gunfight and one of the other Christians was wounded and taken to hospital, William Aya, police spokesman in Kogi State said in a statement.
The third Christian man remains in captivity.
Also on October 2, Fulani herdsmen killed three Christians in Okene, including two brothers: 26-year-old Monday Adamu and Ugede Adamu, 23, MSN reports. “The three Christians were murdered at about 1 a.m. when the herdsmen attacked our community,” local resident Sunday Samuel told MSN. “The two brothers killed by the herdsmen are my cousins, while the third victim killed is our neighbor, Matthew Ojedumu,” Samuel said.
In its 2021 annual report, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom described Nigeria as a “killing field for Christians” and joined rights groups in warning of a genocide.
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