The lives of Christians in northern Nigeria are in grave danger—they are being targeted, attacked and killed for their faith. The violence is expected to get worse because of the upcoming Feb. 14 presidential election.
“The upcoming election will likely be a Valentine’s Day massacre for poor Christians of Northern Nigeria,” Human rights lawyer Emmanuel Ogebe warned during a Jan. 27 congressional hearing.
Ann Buwalda, executive director of The Jubilee Campaign, believes there are three major components contributing to the attacks.
“One [component] is the fact that the northern states of Nigeria, there are 13 specifically that have Sharia law, and a minority Christian community,” she explained. “Second, you have a Muslim opposition candidate who is contesting the election against the existing Christian candidate Goodluck Jonathan.”
The third component Buwalda gives for the fierce attacks on Christians in Northern Nigeria—Boko Haram.
“(Boko Haram) wants to destabilize the country and which has come out time (after) time declaring its efforts to remove democracy from Nigeria. It wants to turn all of Nigeria into a Sharia Islamic state,” Buwalda told CBN News.
Many parallels are being drawn between the Feb. 14 election and Nigeria’s last election from April 2011. During that time Buwalda says 528 churches were burned, at least 200 Christians were killed, and thousands of Christian homes were burned to the ground.
“That was an outbreak of violence that was general communal violence. This time we have the lethal component of the Boko Haram terrorism,” Buwalda said
J. Peter Pham, director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center, addressed the matter in a prepared statement for the House Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs.
“Between victims of raids by the militants and those killed by its campaign of terrorist bombings, more than 10,000 people lost their lives in 2014 to violence connected to Boko Haram,” he wrote.
Escaping the violence doesn’t appear to be an option.
“It’s very challenging to escape. First of all, you already have at least 1.5 million IDPs (Internally Displaced People) from the north of Nigeria that have fled across the border to Cameroon and Niger,” Buwalda explained. “There is simply no place to go.”
“It’s very grim; the fear of what could happen in less than two weeks is disconcerting,” Buwalda said.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited Nigeria earlier this week. He urged presidential candidates to refrain from stirring up violence after next month’s vote. Kerry also promised that America will continue to support Nigeria’s military in the fight against Boko Haram.
On Wednesday, Nigerian and Chadian jets bombed northeast Nigerian towns and villages dominated by Boko Haram. The strike marks the first major offensive action against the terror organization.
“There’s a hope that perhaps this international contingency of forces could have some advance against the Boko Haram terrorists,” Buwalda said.
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