Christian persecution in Nigeria could result in bloodshed, non-profit warns

Suzette Gutierrez Cachila Wednesday, July 27, 2016

A nonprofit organization that promotes civil liberties in Nigeria warned that bloodshed could ensue over the alleged state supported persecution of Christians.

The International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law, also called Intersociety, cited a report released this year by Open Doors, a watchdog against global Christian persecution.

The report said that in the past year alone, the number of Christians killed in northern Nigeria because of persecution has increased 62 percent.

Onlookers gather near the bomb-damaged Shalom Church in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna June 17, 2012. Bombings at three churches in Nigeria's northern Kaduna state killed at least seven people and wounded others on Sunday, triggering retaliatory attacks by Christians. | Reuters/Stringer

In 2015, 4,028 Christians were killed and 198 churches were attacked, while in 2014, 2,484 Christians were killed and 108 churches were attacked.

About 1.3 million Christians have left their homes and sought safer grounds.

The report also identified three groups that launched the violent attacks against believers: Boko Haram, Muslim Fulani herdsmen and Muslim "religious and political elite."

The attacks against Christians are "much more serious than previously expected," an Open Doors partner director for West Africa said in the report.

The director explained that it will not be easy to avoid persecution in northern Nigeria because even if Boko Haram gets defeated, the Sharia law will continue to haunt Christians, who will still face discrimination.

Intersociety expressed sorrow over the report. Emeka Umeagbalasi, the organization's chairman, claimed none of the attackers has ever faced trial, implying that the government is helping them in some way.

Nigerian Pres. Muhammadu Buhari appeared to be unwilling and unable to give protection to Christian communities, a fact that was both "deafening" and "alarming," Umeagbalasi said.

He accused the administration of "running an Islamist government."

"That is to say that Government is fully aiding and abetting the sundry ethno-religious cleansing and butcheries. It also partakes circumstantially and vicariously, if not directly," Umeagbalasi said, according to News 24 Nigeria.

Nigeria takes the 12th spot in the World Watch List, which ranks countries where Christians experience the most persecution. Christians belong to the minority in the country. They are under constant threat from persecution.