It was not a merry Christmas for Christians in Nigeria’s Plateau state, plagued by Islamic jihadi violence.
Catholic News Agency (CNA) reported on Dec. 27 that “198 Christians were killed in a series of terror attacks in 26 Christian communities in Plateau.” The devastating attacks started on the night of December 23, and the slaughter continued through Christmas Day. Bishop Matthew Kukah of Nigeria’s Sokoto diocese reportedly mourned, “Nigerians have almost lost hope” that “a government can really and truly care for them,” or that “our politicians will put our interests first and find a way to deal with the cancer of corruption.”
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CNA obtained photos of the Christians being buried in mass graves. It’s a horrifying illustration of just how many people were killed. Why is there no global campaign to aid Nigeria? Where are the international outcries, the statements from the Vatican and other Christian leaders, the mass protests in Western cities? Westerners can protest the fictional “genocide” of Palestinians but not the all-too-real genocide of Nigerians.
Nigeria is the most deadly nation in the world for Christians, with an estimated 60,000 Christians murdered for their faith and an estimated 10 million more displaced between July 2009 and July 2021. Persecution.org (International Christian Concern or ICC) recently released its 2023 report on the world’s worst persecutors of Christians, with Nigeria at number one.
As Robert Spencer observed on JihadWatch about the lack of coverage of this horrific jihad genocide in Nigeria, “This cannot be blamed on Israel, the perpetrators have protected victim status among leftists, and the victim group is not among the left’s recognized victim classes, so this will get little or no attention.” The West doesn’t care about persecuted Christians, especially African Christians.
Related: Christians in Iran Spend Christmas in Jail
From CNA:
“This indeed has been a gory Christmas for us,” Plateau governor Caleb Mutfwang said in a Tuesday statement that noted the attacks were “well-coordinated” and carried out using “heavy weapons.”
Bishop Matthew Kukah of the Sokoto Diocese in northern Nigeria meanwhile called on the newly elected Nigerian president Bola Tinubu to take immediate action to protect the Nigerian people, telling him: “You have no excuses before God or the people of Nigeria” and that “neither God nor history will forgive you if you fail.”
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Pray for Nigerian Christians this year. The Muslim terrorists are attempting to wipe out Christianity in Nigeria, and they are using the most brutal and bloody means to do so. There should be a strong movement in America demanding help for these persecuted Christians, who have received so little support or aid from anyone.