Religious leaders warned that a “Christian genocide” is taking place in Nigeria, and Boko Haram has added to the horror by killing 110 more people and wounding many others.
“I am outraged and horrified by the gruesome attack against civilians,” said Edward Kallon, U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria. He called for “the perpetrators of this heinous and senseless act to be brought to justice.”
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari responded by saying, “I condemn the killing of our hardworking farmers by terrorists in Borno State. The entire country is hurt by these senseless killings. My thoughts are with their families in this time of grief. May their souls Rest In Peace.”
Recently, Rev. Johnnie Moore and Rabbi Abraham Cooper released a book entitled “The Next Jihad: Stop the Christian Genocide in Africa.” The duo traveled to Nigeria and warned of the jihad taking place there.
Earlier this year the authors issued a joint statement saying,
“After our journey there, we want the world to know that you haven’t heard half of it. The terrorists’ aim is to ethnically cleanse northern Nigeria of its Christians and to kill every Muslim who stands in their way…. This portion of Africa will be ground zero for the next generation’s war on terrorism, and the humanitarian cost of letting these problems fester and multiply in the near term could result in disaster for much of Western Africa.”
This act of violence adds even greater weight to what has been a year of violence in the country and these leaders claims of genocide. Earlier this month, 12 Christians, including a pastor, were murdered and women and children were kidnapped. Officials fear that Boko Haram has again kidnapped women and girls in this latest horrific attack.
In regard to why they wrote “The Next Jihad,” Moore said, “Where my mind was when we were writing the book right after our trip, 10 days before the world started shutting down because of COVID, I thought this could be the next jihad. I have since come to realize that it is the next jihad right now. It is not just Nigeria. It is the countries around Nigeria. It is a quickly escalating problem.”
Boko Haram and other Islamic groups have terrorized the country for years, becoming infamous for kidnapping women and girls. While ISIS has largely been defeated in the Middle East, African terror groups have continued their barbaric assault on Christians.
Cooper warned that many experts are not seeing that these attacks are religiously motivated but rather see them as territorial issues. He has implored Western governments to be more involved in helping stop this jihad. He explained,
“The goal is to get these two governments to sort of get past the reflective and deflective discussions about whether it is just tribal and religion…. We don’t want to demonize Nigeria as a failed or lost state. It is not there yet. It is too big and too important to fail. We need American diplomats, U.K. diplomats, and others to stop putting blinders on because they just don’t want to go there when it comes to religion. That is a huge mistake. You can’t treat cancer unless you can fully identify the nature and scope of that cancer.”
Babagana Zulum, governor of the Borno state where the recent attack took place, said, “Our people are in a very difficult situation. If they stay at home they may be killed by hunger. They go out to their farmlands and risk getting killed by the insurgents.”
Western governments must thoroughly consider greater involvement in order to stop the cancer Cooper mentioned. Christians must pray for Nigeria as their Christian brothers and sisters are being targeted, persecuted, and exterminated by these groups.
It seems that Cooper and Moore’s concerns were well–founded: Nigeria is experiencing a Christian genocide.
