Page 12 - Voice of the Persecuted Christians - Apr-Jun 2023 - 122

Nearly 300 schoolgirls were abducted in Chibok in northeast Nigeria in 2014
OUT OF THESE ASHES
For the past two decades Christians in northern and central Nigeria have endured horrendous persecution. Thousands have been killed and many more forced
to flee, as Islamist extremists have waged a brutal campaign of terror. While some in the West label the situation as ‘sectarian conflict’, Christian leaders
The subsequent history of Nigeria
is complex as political and religious factors intertwined, often with disastrous effect. Despite a nominally secular constitution, the religious divide has become more pronounced and several northern states, starting with Zamfara, have instituted Sharia (Islamic law) from the year 2000. Resistance to the law by Christians resulted in riots and the killing of hundreds of Christians and the destruction of many churches.
who are living and ministering in the midst of this violence are clear that this is a deliberate campaign against Christians and the Church. In response to this relentless persecution Release International’s Out of these Ashes campaign is seeking to bring this situation to the attention of Christians in the UK and to call for
a renewed commitment to prayer. Here two of our partners, Archbishop Ben Kwashi of Jos and Mark Lipdo of Stefanos Foundation, explain the roots of the persecution and reflect on the current situation
This set the stage for the many tragedies that followed. Radical Muslim gangs attacked and killed Christians under the pretext of blasphemy in Kano, Kaduna, Zaria, Gombe, Bauchi and many northern towns. Boko Haram, in its first online propaganda video, called for a jihad against the ‘infidels’ of Jos, central Nigeria. The group then launched its terrorism campaign against democracy and anything associated with Christianity, primarily ‘western education’ which,
it claimed, was adulterating Islam
and turning Muslims into infidels.
Boko Haram therefore attacked and destroyed dozens of schools and kidnapped students. In 2014 nearly 300 schoolgirls were abducted in Chibok, in north-eastern Nigeria, and there have been other similar attacks since then. The Islamic terrorist
group grew in influence and violence, deploying suicide bombers and attacking churches and predominantly Christian communities. It also attacked any moderate Muslim who showed any sympathy for Christians.
BEN KWASHI
were resisted. Christianity, however, was accepted and became the dominant religion in the central region long before the country’s independence. The gospel had been first brought to the Bauchi/Jos Plateau area as far back as 1906.
The persecution of Christians has been a significant part of Nigeria’s history. By the time of Independence in 1960, the
religious fault lines between Islam and other religions, especially Christianity, were already deep. The Usman Dan Fodio jihad of the 1800s had spread across parts of the north west to the central regions where the Jihadists
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