As of 2023, Nigeria is the sixth most dangerous country in the world to live in as a Christian after North Korea, Somalia, Yemen, Eritrea, and Libya. This is despite the religion being nearly 50% of the Nigerian population. As a matter of fact, you are safer in Saudi Arabia as a Christian than in Nigeria.
No doubt, Christian persecution in Nigeria has heightened over the years, despite different efforts to quell the situation. However, Christians in the northern and central parts of the country live in constant fear of death. Also, those who live in supposedly safer parts of the country (that is, the West and South) attest to having attack scares from time to time.
Also, the United States government under the administration of President Donald Trump added Nigeria to the ‘Country of Particular Concern’ list because of the insurgency that has ravaged the country and particularly, the violence against Christians—the major perpetrators being the Boko Haram terrorists.
These issues have left a lingering question in the minds of Nigerian Christians and international bodies—a profound heart cry seeking to know whether Nigeria is wiping out its Christians. Is the country perpetually prone to suffering the devastations of insurgency and religious riots or are the main targets Christians?
Christian Persecution in the Colonial Era
Colonialism in Nigeria ended over 60 years ago and many Nigerians may not know that the persecution of Christians started during this period. It did not begin with the advent of Boko Haram and other insurgents, it only intensified when these actors emerged in the national scene. Nevertheless, colonialism is not the root cause of Christian persecution in the country, but just a mere catalyst.
Initially, Christian missionaries were optimistic that Christianity would be embraced in northern Nigeria owing to their cordial commercial relationship with the people and their civilised and welcoming nature. However, the efforts of Christian missionaries in the north proved abortive and the original plan to Christianise the north was also futile.
The north was already an Islamic area and the egalitarian belief upheld by Christianity was found gross by the Muslim northerners, coupled with the fact that Christianity condemned polygamy—a practice that is allowed in Islam and had been embraced by northerners. Soon enough, the British colonial government began to cut off affiliations with the missionaries—making Christian proselytisation difficult—and striving to uphold the fundamentals of Islam to ensure the smooth political administration of the north.
Subsequently, Muslims in the north gained the upper hand and began to look down on Christians, regarding them as ‘Kafirs’ (unbelievers), and persecuting them not for tenable reasons but simply for their identity as Christians. The Christian Council of Nigeria (which became the Christian Association of Nigeria in 1982) was formed in 1930 and was instrumental in fighting for the rights of Christians in Nigeria.
However, directly, or indirectly, the colonial government aided the Muslims in persecuting Christians and the divide-and-rule policy of Indirect rule gave rise to ethnoreligious discrepancy—from where segregated identity politics and northern domination slipped into the national political sphere. This was one of the remote causes of the civil war that broke out in the country in July 1967.
The colonial effect on Christian persecution transcended the colonial times so much that Christianity was sidelined and Nigeria became a full member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) under the military eras of Generals Muhammadu Buhari and Ibrahim Babangida. CAN protested against sidelining, Islamisation and subtle persecution to no avail and it seemed as if the military rulers were very interested in imposing their religion on the whole country.
The Sharia Riots
At this point, the situation had moved from just sidelining Christians to subtly infringing their right to freedom of religion. This was in the sense that the Sharia was introduced to northern states in Nigeria, not because states like Kaduna had a large Christian population. The introduction of Sharia in Kaduna State was an indirect declaration of Christianity as illegal—a controversy that brought about security concerns among the Christian community in Kaduna. Such a contravention of the secularity principle that should guide any multi-religious setting would undoubtedly lead to crises, and this was what happened in Kaduna in 2000.
Governor Ahmed Makarfi introduced the Sharia law in Kaduna State on February 3, 2000, as against the standard secular state status and principle entrenched by the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria—placing Islam above other religions and indirectly enforcing Islamic customs on non-Muslims. This single act led to the Sharia riots, which have been described as the most violent conflict in the history of the state and have birthed subsequent religious clashes. The Sharia riots had two stages.
The first stage of the Sharia riots started in Kaduna City in February and in March, where it spread across villages. As a form of protest against the attempted Islamisation of the state, Muslims were attacked in Kachia local government—residential areas, shops, courts, filling stations, hospitals and markets were affected during the riot. This riot seemed like an outburst from Christians after years of subtle persecution and an attempt to stand up for themselves. A judicial committee was swiftly formed to investigate the riot and call the perpetrators to question.
However, before the judicial committee was able to wrap up its investigation, a second phase of the riot broke out. This second riot unlike the first one, started from remote locations before it spread to the Kaduna metropolis. It was alleged that Muslims raided a Christian community and killed a man, which generated a massive religious crisis that the police alone could not quell.
During the crisis, the judicial committee that was set up gave a report of not less than 1,295 deaths, and it was said that some other victims were buried nameless, putting the death toll at over 2,000. However, when peace was finally restored, 3,000 people were said to have lost their lives and about 63,000 people were displaced and sought protection in police stations and army barracks, as these were the only places considered safe. The Sharia riots marked the beginning of perpetual hostility and bad blood between Christians and Muslims in the North.
In 2002, two years after the Sharia riots, another crisis broke out – the Miss World beauty protest. This was part of the Sharia riots because it was a continuation of the religion-inspired hostility. The Miss World beauty pageant that was to be held in Abuja, Nigeria, in 2002, was seen as sacrilegious by Muslim fundamentalists, while the egalitarian and secular worldview of Christians on the other hand made them see no reason for the uproar.
The riots were reactions to the Western belief system and by extension, Christianity; leading to protests that took about 250 lives. Security forces were unable to fully forestall the crisis, as they also got involved in the killings. The security agents were said to have killed and injured several people—taking advantage of the crises to target specific groups.
More than 6,000 Christians were killed in Nigeria in 2023, mainly across Ondo, Kaduna, Benue, Plateau and Taraba States, while some thousand others have been forced to convert or flee their lands.
It was evident that the Sharia riots made Kaduna state and other states in the north vulnerable to religious crises. Consequently, ‘Operation Yaki’ was introduced in 2008—a collaboration of the police, army, and air force—to restore peace to Kaduna State. It was later gathered that the security agencies and members of Operation Yaki were partial and biased in containing the crises, leading to more extra-judicial killings and a higher threat to the security of life and property of Christians in particular.
The Boko Haram menace that became rampant in the north around 2009 is believed to be rooted in the Sharia riots of 2000.
The Ondo Shootings
The trail of events in Nigeria has shown that the susceptibility of Christians to persecution depends on the location where they live—northern and middle-belt Christians living in remote villages being the most attacked by militants and other insurgents. In fact, Matthew Hassan Kukah, a Catholic Bishop was forced to describe northern Nigeria as an immense burial ground, a vale of dry skeletons, and the vilest and most ruthless region in Nigeria. However, it came as a shock when a church in Owo, Ondo State of Western Nigeria, was attacked by unknown gunmen during a Sunday service.
The church, popularly known as St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church was invaded on a Pentecost Sunday, precisely on June 5, 2022. Around 40 to 80 parish members (including children) were reportedly killed by the gunmen. Some people suspect the Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP), an offshoot of Boko Haram to have carried out the attack to express their displeasure towards members of the Christian faith, but this claim has not been confirmed. Before this shocking attack, Ondo State had suffered from unrest caused by clashes between farmers and herdsmen, such that the state government banned open grazing in an attempt to restore peace.
Notwithstanding, Ondo is undoubtedly a relatively peaceful state compared to the north and central parts of Nigeria where Christians are usually killed or forced to flee their homes and become refugees in their own country. This was more of the reason why the Ondo attack came as a shock.
The shooting had started around half past 11 a.m. on the day of the incident. It was apparent that the perpetrators had pretended to be worshippers and had mixed with the church members, taking strategic positions in groups, and holding bags that no one suspected to contain firearms. The group that took position outside the church discharged the improvised explosive devices they had brought with them and together with the group inside, they started shooting at the church members.
Worshippers who tried to escape through alternative doors, since the main entrance had been locked, were also massacred. Eyewitnesses claimed that anyone who tried to move was shot at and passersby were not excluded. When the perpetrators were satisfied with their operation, they hijacked a Nissan car and absconded.
One of the survivors claimed to have seen five gunmen who carried out the attack, but it is possible for the perpetrators to have been more than that number. Priests who survived the massacre recounted how the shootout started at the very minute the service ended. Victims were rushed to the hospital when the people noticed that the gunmen had left, and two police officers were said to have been shot dead.
While the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) reported that not less than 22 bodies (including two children) were taken to the mortuary at the local hospital, many people also claimed to have taken the corpses of their family members home to be buried—indicating a high number of casualties. Apart from this, about 61 people were injured and some died from their wounds much later.
The Massacres in Southern Kaduna
The Christian body in Nigeria had hardly gotten over the Owo attack when another one took place in the Southern part of Kaduna—a state in northern Nigeria, where Christians are believed to be in the majority. Prior to this, southern Kaduna had suffered insurgency for many years without the perpetrators facing the wrath of the law, precisely since 2014.
The attacks suffered by the people of Southern Kaduna have created so much fear in the people that most of them live like refugees in their own land and have started considering self-defence measures. The December 2022 attacks were however, one of a kind, as a fresh attack was launched 24 hours after the mass burial of the victims killed in the first series of attacks.
The first of the killings happened on December 18, 2022, starting around 11 p.m. (WAT). Reports say at least 38 residents of Malagum and Abun villages in the area were murdered in cold blood. Apart from this, about 100 houses were set ablaze, apparently leading to the death of other villagers. Other villages like Kpak, Kumuru, and Ikulu were also affected.
It was appalling to gather that there were signs that the security forces stationed in the area had ignored strange herdsmen who had arrived in the area on motorcycles and loitered in nearby bushes days before the massacre. These suspected herdsmen were said to have led their cattle to graze on farmlands belonging to the indigenes, killing the farmers they found.
There are also concerns about why none of the terrorists has been arrested and made to face justice over the recurring attacks. Still, some local leaders, clerics, and protesters have been called into question and even imprisoned over alleged incitement.
It is, however, apparent that Christians in Northern Nigeria were the target in this series of attacks carried out in a period that is special to them – the Christmas season – as it was evident in the December 24, 2023, attacks in Plateau State where about 200 people were murdered.
Conclusion
Although there has been no concrete evidence to support the claim that Nigeria, as a country, is systematically wiping out its Christians, the country is seen as one of the most dangerous places on earth to live in as a Christian. In fact, in April 2018, President Donald Trump told President Muhammadu Buhari, who was on a visit to the White House, that the United States would not tolerate the killing of Christians in Nigeria.
Tracing the origin of Christian persecution in Nigeria from colonial times to the outbreak of the Sharia riots, the Ondo shootings and the recent massacres in Southern Kaduna and Plateau State, it is obvious that Christians in Nigeria, especially in the North, live under threat.
According to reports, more than 6,000 Christians were killed in Nigeria in 2023, mainly across Ondo, Kaduna, Benue, Plateau and Taraba States, while some thousand others have been forced to convert or flee their lands, as it has been predicted that the killing of Christians in these regions will increase in the coming years.
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