By Christian Solidarity Worldwide
The Global Coalition on Freedom of Religion in Nigeria (GCFRN), a group of concerned individuals in Nigeria and in the diaspora, has sent an open letter to the Nigerian Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives stressing the urgent need to address violations and abuses of the right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) following the decision by the United States (US) to designate Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern (CPC).
In the letter, dated November 2 and received by the officials on November 6, the GCFRN countered government denials of specific attacks on Christian communities, and supplied evidence of historic and ongoing violations experienced by these communities in the country’s north and centre.
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The letter concludes with 11 recommendations, including that blasphemy laws should be voided; that federal institutions that have refused to grant land for chapels for students should be directed to do so; that communities illegally occupied by insurgents must be reclaimed and restored to their rightful inhabitants; and that the Human Rights Commission Act should be amended to include a department to record and investigate cases and allegations of FoRB violations.
Uptick in terror
The public release of the GCFRN letter coincides with an uptick in terror-related violence. On November 19 youth from the Eruku community in Ekiti Local Government Area (LGA) in Kwara State blocked the highway between Kwara and Kogi to protest an attack on a Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) by terrorists in which three members of the congregation were killed and over 30 people were abducted, including the church’s pastor.
The attack occurred at around 6pm on November 18, as the church livestreamed a Thanksgiving Service for the release of 18 people who were kidnapped around three weeks earlier. Chilling footage shows the moment the service was interrupted by gunfire, and members scrambled for places to hide. Armed men are subsequently seen entering the building, seizing personal belongings that parishioners had left on their seats, and forcing several church members out of their hiding places.
Communities in Kwara State have been under significant attack since the expansion of operations by the resurgent terrorist faction Lakurawa, which is reportedly affiliated with the Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP), more or less coincided with the emergence of Mahmuda, a terror group believed to be a breakaway faction from Boko Haram with alleged links to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
The latest attack in Kwara caused widespread consternation, because not only was it the first church attack to be captured live; it was also the latest of several major instances of terrorism that occurred within a 72-hour timeframe.
On November 17 the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) executed Brigadier General Muhammed Uba, who was captured following an ambush on his convoy near Wajiroko village in Borno State on November 15 in which two soldiers and two Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) officials died. The brigadier general had briefly escaped, and the military initially denied he had been captured. However, ISWAP subsequently confirmed his execution with a statement and images.
Also on November 17, 25 girls were abducted by armed assailants who scaled the walls of the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga, Kebbi State, at around 4am, killing assistant principal Hassan Yakubu Makuku, and injuring another staff member. One of the girls subsequently escaped.
In addition, the Catholic Archdiocese of Kaduna reported the abduction of Rev Fr Bobbo Paschal, the Parish Priest of St Stephen Parish, Kushe, Gugdu, from his residence in Kagarko LGA along with several other individuals in the early hours of November 17 by assailants who also killed the brother of another priest.
Earlier, on November 11, four people were killed, three were hospitalised with serious injuries, and 13 were abducted during an attack on the Gidan Waya community in Yarkasuwa, Lere LGA, Kaduna State. Among those kidnapped was an Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) reverend, a minor, and several women.
CSW’s CEO Scot Bower said: “CSW joins the Global Coalition on Freedom of Religion in Nigeria in calling on the government to urgently address violations of freedom of religion or belief across the country. Recent attacks in Borno, Kaduna, Kebbi and Kwara States – just a snapshot of the appalling violence to which communities in the north and centre of the country have been subjected for over a decade – underscore the severity of the security situation yet again and must be responded to decisively. We call on the international community to assist Nigeria wherever possible in tracing and holding funders, facilitators and perpetrators of terror- and religion-related violence to account.”
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