Nigerians: Jihadists Seek Christian 'Obliteration,' Government 'Window-Dressing' Situation

Nigerian activists and leaders at the front lines of the jihadist mass killings in the country denounced attempts to erase the religious aspect of the persecution in the country during a recent online press briefing alongside the human rights organization Open Doors, noting the overwhelming evidence that the killers are seeking to eliminate Christianity entirely. next24online/NurPhoto via Getty Images “Anyone who has spoken about climate change, who is talking about land, talking about - no, no, no, no,” Terwase Orbunde, former Chief of Staff to the Governor of Benue State and member of State Security Council, told reporters during the briefing, which took place on December 16 and which Breitbart News attended. “That may be ultimately what they want to do, to take the land, but first is to destroy the people - and because they are Christians. We cannot separate [that] fact.” Another speaker, journalist Steven Kefas with the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa, noted that he had documented terrorist attacks targeting civilians more often on Sundays and Christian holidays, with no corresponding spike in attacks during Islamic holidays. Kefas also noted that a disproportionate number of Christians die in “bandit” attacks even in majority-Muslim Nigerian states, casting doubt on claims that the jihadist killings are part of a generalized crime wave affecting everyone equally. Children, who were released after being kidnapped by gunmen in Kuriga, are reunited with their families in Kuriga on March 28, 2024. Over 130 Nigerian schoolchildren freed following a mass kidnapping have reunited with their families on March 28, 2024, a state governor’s spokesperson told AFP. (EMMANUEL BUBA/AFP via Getty Images) “If this just random criminality, why not attack the Muslims in the Middle Belt on the eve of their celebration, or on Friday?” he asked. “You never hear that.” Nigeria has experienced over a decade of radical Islamist violence, mostly targeting Christians though occasionally also killing Muslims considered insufficiently devout or practitioners of traditional African religions. In northern Nigeria, where the population is majority Muslim, the most persistent threat has been the Islamic State affiliated terrorist organization Boko Haram. In the Middle Belt, which straddles the north and the Christian-majority south, Christian communities have been ravaged by massacres at the hands of organized Fulani jihadists. Government officials and mainstream journalists often refer to the killers vaguely as “bandits” or “gunmen.” Some have dismissed the fighting as conflict between the mostly Muslim herders and mostly Christian farmers over land - or a conflict attributable to climate change. The issue of Christian persecution in Nigeria became an international topic of discussion in October, when President Donald Trump announced that he would place Nigeria on the State Department’s list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) for religious freedom. Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, a Muslim married to a Christian, denied that any religious intolerance, much less persecution, existed in his country at all, denouncing the designation. After pressure from Christian advocate groups and opposition parties, Tinubu ultimately declared a state of emergency in response to the...

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