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Nigerian bishop Wilfred Anagbe recently sat down with CNA in Washington, D.C., to discuss the ongoing persecution and killings of Catholics in his country, which has grown so much in recent years that, he said, “it has become a daily occurrence.”
A freelance journalist who has reported on a surge of violent attacks by radicalized Muslims in Nigeria for CNA recently found himself caught in the middle of a firefight between government soldiers and armed militiamen.
Advocates for persecuted Christians in Nigeria are criticizing a new report prepared by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) that they say ignores the many documented atrocities perpetrated against Christians by the Fulani ethnic group in Nigeria and instead paints the Fulani as persecuted victims.
At least 94 people reportedly have died in a series of deadly attacks on Christian communities throughout Holy Week in Benue state in north-central Nigeria, an ominous sign of escalating violence blamed on Muslim militias in the country’s Middle Belt region.
Pope Francis met Wednesday with two young Nigerian girls who suffered horrendous violence at the hands of the Boko Haram terrorist group.
“Oh, what sorrow to have watched three of my parishioners shot dead in cold blood, right before my eyes — and I couldn’t do anything,” Nigerian parish priest Father Bako Francis Awesuh, 37, shared in a new Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) report published Friday.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), the UK-based human rights foundation, is calling for the release of Leah Sharibu who has been in captivity since 2018 saying the half-a-decade period she has spent with her kidnappers is “far too long”.
Cardinal Peter Ebere Okpaleke said Nigerian society as a whole has “a traditional worldview” that recognizes the presence of God in life and society.
A U.S. State Department official told EWTN that “after careful review” Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has decided not to put Nigeria back on the list.
Pope Francis invited Christians on Wednesday to pray for the grace to have a “pastoral heart” like Jesus that “suffers and takes risks” out of love for others.
Rhoda Jatau, a Christian and mother of five, was charged with blasphemy in a Nigerian court yesterday for forwarding a video defending a lynched Christian student.
A Nigerian musician is taking a case to the country’s Supreme Court challenging a death sentence he was given in 2020 for “blasphemy,” a case his lawyers hope will overturn the harsh blasphemy laws that have plagued the country’s Christians and other religious minorities for years.
The U.S. Department of State says it is “deeply troubled” by recent allegations of a forced abortion program on more than 10,000 Nigerian women and has communicated its concerns to the Nigerian government, The Christian Post reported Dec. 15.
As President Joe Biden welcomes leaders from over 40 African nations this week, religious freedom advocates are calling for the U.S. government to recognize the rising persecution of Christians in Nigeria.
For the second year in a row Nigeria has been left off of the U.S. State Department’s list of countries that engage in or tolerate the world’s worst religious freedom violations, despite regular reports of kidnappings and killings of Christians, sparking outcry from members of a bipartisan government watchdog group.
According to a report published by Reuters today, a massive forced abortion program has been carried out by the Nigerian military on at least 10,000 women since 2013. In addition to exposing the Nigerian government’s forced abortion campaign, Reuters’ findings further evidence the use of rape as a weapon of war carried out by Islamist insurgents on Nigerian civilians.
November proved to be an especially deadly month in Central Nigeria, leaving Catholics like Matthew Onah and his family struggling to cope with their losses.
Details are still emerging after a violent raid by Fulani herdsmen Oct. 19 in Benue State, Central Nigeria, reportedly left dozens of Catholic villagers killed.
The Archbishop of Nigeria’s Abuja Archdiocese has called on “political and traditional” leaders in the West African nation to find inspiration in the prayer attitude of Old Testament rulers and pray for the Nigerians under their care.
Armed men kidnapped more than 80 Christians last week in attacks on two separate churches in north-central and northwest Nigeria, reported Morning Star News.