February 22, 2020

NIGERIA: Islamic Militants Massacred 30 People. Islamic Militants Beheaded 11 Christians Day After Christmas. Next Day All Members Of A Christian Bridal Party Headed To Wedding Were Beheaded.

CNN
written by Bukola Adebayo
Tuesday February 11, 2020

Lagos, Nigeria - At least 30 people, including a pregnant woman and a baby, are dead after suspected Boko Haram militants set fire on sleeping travelers in Borno state, Nigeria, the governor's spokesman told CNN.

The attacks happened in Auno village, about 20 kilometers from the capital Maiduguri at around 10 pm Sunday night, the Borno State governor media aide Isa Gusau told CNN.

They burned 18 vehicles, including trucks laden with food products, and other goods that were to be taken into markets in the city the following day, Gusau told CNN.

Images from the scene of the incident showed charred bodies lying beside burned vehicles.

Resident Shehu Tanko told CNN the bodies of a pregnant woman and her baby were among those recovered from the carnage. News of the attack was released after Borno State governor visited the area Monday afternoon.

"They burn everywhere. The fire was still on till this morning. We are still looking for many people around here," Tanko said.

News of the attack was released after Borno State governor visited the area Monday afternoon.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack but Boko Haram militants have fought a decade-long war in the region-- burning down villages, attacking military checkpoints and kidnapping residents -- amid repeated claims by the government that they have been defeated.

The Boko Haram insurgency has displaced tens of thousands of residents and 112 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by the group's militants in 2014 are still missing.

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari told African Union's security council meeting in Addis Ababa on Monday that his government was working to secure the release of all children and citizens held by terrorists.

''It is for this reason that the Nigerian government has severally condemned, and is combating frontally the dreadful activities of terrorist groups like Boko Haram and the so-called Islamic State," Buhari said in a statement.
Memri TV
ISIS In West Africa Releases Video Showing Execution, Beheading Of 11 Christian Men
December 26, 2019

On December 26, 2019, the Islamic State (ISIS) in West Africa released a video showing the execution of 11 Christian men in Borno State, in the north east of Nigeria. According to the video, which was released by ISIS's official A'maq News Agency, the execution of these men is part of an ISIS campaign to avenge the deaths of the group's former leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi and its spokesman Abu Al-Hassan Al-Muhajir. In a message to the "Christians in the world," an unidentified fighter says: "Those who are seen in front of us are Christians, and we will spill their bloods to avenge our glorious sheikhs – the caliph of Muslims, and the official spokesman of the Islamic State Sheikh Abu Al-Hassan Al-Muhajir, may Allah accept them." The video then shows an ISIS fighter shooting one of the men, and ten fighters beheading the rest of the men.

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The Hill
written by Vernon Brewer
Sunday February 16, 2020

The recent news reports about Christian persecution coming out of Nigeria are horrifying. A day after Christmas, extremists who identified themselves as part of ISIS murdered 11 Christians in Nigeria. A few weeks into the new year, on Jan. 19, the Islamic State of West Africa released a video of a child — who looked to be around 10 years old — executing a Christian man in Borno, Nigeria.

A few days later, on Jan. 22, a Nigerian pastor, the Rev. Lawan Andimi, was beheaded by Boko Haram’s militants. Andimi had made international news for turning a hostage video into a testimonial about his faith in Jesus. “By the grace of God, I will be together with my wife, my children, and my colleagues,” Andimi said. His murder triggered protests in 28 of Nigeria’s 36 states, drawing an estimated 5 million people to denounce violence against Christians.

While the world has been consumed by news about Iran, China and conflicts in other regions, Nigeria’s militant and extremist groups have waged a campaign of death and devastation against Christians.

Persecution-monitoring groups such as Open Doors and U.K.-based Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust estimate that more than 7,000 Nigerian Christians have been killed for their faith in the past five years. The brazen, bloody attacks by Boko Haram and ISIS-affiliated militants tragically have made these groups into household names. But there is another extremist group operating in Nigeria that is just as deadly — and you probably have never heard about it.

Every year, hundreds of Nigerian Christians are being assaulted, tortured and killed by Fulani extremists in the Middle Belt region of the nation. In 2019 alone, an estimated 1,350 Christians were killed by militant Islamic groups in Nigeria, according to Open Doors. Reports from the ground indicate that the Fulani were responsible for at least 500 of these deaths. Most recently, on Jan. 26 and 27, the Fulani attacked two villages, setting a church building ablaze and killing at least 26 people.

Not long ago, a team from our organization, World Help, traveled to Nigeria to meet with a prominent Christian leader to discuss the situation. “Our people are being killed,” he said. “They are being hacked to death. Entire communities, hundreds, have been sacked — destroyed and taken over by Fulani herdsmen.”

According to World Watch Monitor, the Fulani are the “world’s largest nomadic group,” and they believe they have the right to take land in Nigeria to graze their cattle. “It is a concept in Islam called ‘sacred space,’” said one Nigerian pastor. “According to this concept, all land has been given by Allah to the Muslims, and the Muslims have a right to claim any piece of land. And most of the areas that the Fulani are attacking are Christian communities, so it is very easy to see that what is happening is ethnic cleansing to advance the cause of jihad.”

The Fulani make up the fourth largest ethnic group in Nigeria, which is home to more than 200 million people. The Fulani are traditionally Muslim, and some radicalized herdsmen have engaged in jihad against Christian farmers, especially in Plateau State.

The clashes between Fulani herdsmen and Christian farmers are of a complex nature. The Middle Belt of Nigeria has been claimed by different ethnic groups over the years who have been caught in a cycle of violent attacks and retaliations. Consequently, the growing violence in the region has tribal, territorial, religious and even environmental underlying factors.

“The Fulani extremists do not constitute a single terrorist group,” says the 2019 Global Terrorism Index, which is published by the Institute for Economics & Peace and ranks Nigeria third among 138 countries that are plagued by terrorism. “Certain deaths within the ongoing conflict between pastoralists and the nomadic Fulani have been categorized as terrorism and attributed to extremist elements within the Fulani. This categorization is reflective of terrorism used as a tactic within an ongoing conflict.”

Although Fulani extremists are not part of an organized terror group such as Boko Haram or ISIS, their crimes are no less reprehensible. The fact remains: Christians are being persecuted and killed. Men, women, and children are being slaughtered, and their deaths largely are being ignored.

A report by Open Doors indicates that 99 percent of the Christian persecution that happens in Nigeria is of a violent nature. While our team was in Nigeria, we saw the effects of this violence firsthand. Refugee camps were packed with widows and orphans. One little boy told us the Fulani had surrounded his family’s house and shot his father. They kicked in the door, shot two of his brothers, and then turned their machetes on him and his little sister. They still bear long, raised scars on their faces and heads — permanent reminders of that horrible night.

Fulani attacks like this are all too common. Huts are burned down with people trapped inside. Roadblocks and false police checkpoints are set up to ambush minibuses and vehicles. In fact, the violence has gotten so intense, that some human rights observers have begun to question whether the Fulani’s persecution of Christian farmers constitutes genocide. Clearly, this is an issue the world needs to be paying closer attention to. Christians in Nigeria are in desperate need of our help.

We need to pray and speak up for them. We also can respond to their immediate needs by partnering with humanitarian organizations that send aid to persecuted Christians. Our organization provides Bibles to Nigerians who have been displaced from their homes and are living in refugee camps.

Whatever we do, let’s not forget Christians in Nigeria and their suffering. We cannot allow this persecution to go unnoticed.

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CHVN95.1FM Christian news
written by Mike Thom
Wednesday January 1, 2020

One day after 11 Christians in Nigeria were killed by (Islamic) militants on Christmas Day, all members of a bridal party, including the bride, were killed as they headed to the wedding.

The massacre occurred on December 26 as they travelled to the bride's country home for the wedding which was to take place on December 31, according to CBN. It took place at Gwoza, in the eastern Nigerian state of Borno.

Father Francis Arinse told the Catholic News Service the group was captured and killed by Islamic militants.

"They were beheaded by suspected Boko Haram insurgents at Gwoza on their way to her country home," Arinse told CNS.

Nigerian Christians have been plagued by increasing violence at the hands of Boko Haram (Islamic) militants.
BBC source: Sultan of Sokoto Leads Nigeria's 70m Muslims. Sokoto base for 19th and 20th Century jihad, spreading Islam across northern Nigeria. Sokoto still Nigeria's centre for Islamic learning.

Pulse News, Nigeria
written by Damilare Famuyiwa
Friday February 21, 2020

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar lll says insurgency will stop if Nigerians desist from committing sins.

The Boko Haram insurgency ravaging the country is God's way of punishing Nigerians for disobeying his commands through the years, according to the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar lll.

Daily Trust reports that the Sultan, who was represented by the Emir of Jiwa, Dr. Idris Musa, at the 5th International Conference on 'Love and Tolerance: Countering Violent Extremism for Peaceful Coexistence', in Abuja, said Nigerians are living in sin and have refused to abide by the teachings of the Quran and Bible.

Expressing dismay over the spate of insecurity in the country, the Sultan lamented that it has reached a stage where the rich are avoiding the poor.

“The security challenge is our problem. The Holy Quran is a message to mankind. The Holy Bible is a message to mankind. If we cannot listen to what the Bible and Quran have taught us and we continue in our bad ways, what do we expect?" Abubakar reportedly asked.

He continued, “It is part of the punishment we are receiving based on our sins. If we can stop committing sin and abide by God’s words, things will change."

The Sultan however expressed optimism that Nigeria will overcome the security challenges bedeviling it.

He said, "We can win the fight against insurgency. Everyone is afraid of each other, but I am sure that we are going to win the war. Today, it has reached a situation where a senior citizen is running away from the common man, because, he is thinking that he would lose his life, why?"

Posted by Princess Mononoke at 11:57 AM

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