Nigeria: Islamic terrorists inflict years-long campaign of terror on Pastors, Christians in Kaduna state

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – One of several northern Nigerian states in which Christians have faced genocidal murder and terror campaigns by Islamic militants determined to impose their version of Sharia law, Kaduna state has seen many Christians murdered, no fewer than 23 pastors killed, and more than 200 churches forcibly shut down since 2019, Barnabas Aid reports.

Reporting on the persecution data for Kaduna state during a meeting of church leaders and the State Commissioner of Police on September 12, 2023, Pastor John Joseph Hayab, chairman of the Kaduna branch of the Christian Association of Nigeria, added that hundreds of lay Christians are understood to have been murdered by Islamic militants in the last four years, Barnabas Aid reports.

In a website statement, the Open Doors international Christian advocacy organization explains: “Christians in Nigeria suffer persecution from an ingrained agenda of enforced Islamisation, which is particularly prevalent in the north of the country and has gradually been spreading south.

“Since the northern states declared allegiance to Sharia (Islamic law) in 1999, this enforced Islamisation has gained momentum, by violent and non-violent means,” Open Doors states.

“Attacks by Islamic militant groups have increased consistently since 2015, but the government has failed to prevent the rise in violence, which affects all Nigerians, but particularly Christians.”

Calling for prayer, Barnabas Aid requests in its report: “Pray for God’s protection over church leaders and churches in Kaduna State. Ask that Christians remain steadfast in their faith, in spite of the threat of violence against them.”

Nigeria ranks 6th on the US Open Doors World Watch List 2023 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.

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