Under-reported: The plight of Nigeria’s Christians

Back in February, Douglas Murray wrote an excellent piece for the Spectator on the persecution of Nigeria’s northern Christians. It was the first and only time I came across their plight all year, yet their suffering remains unrelenting.

In the north-east of Nigeria, Boko Haram continues to target local Christian communities mercilessly. Over three years have passed since they declared a caliphate in the region, and abductions, forced conversions, rape, pillaging and murder remain commonplace. The perpetrators are the herdsmen of the Muslim Fulani Tribe. They come at day and night with machetes and hack the unarmed Christian villagers to death. Whole villages are razed to the ground, the churches burnt. Local policemen and the army, placed in the region to ‘protect’ the Christians, instead choose to overlook the atrocities. Indeed, they often aid the Fulani herdsmen, supplying weapons and vehicles; the national government is run by a Fulani President and the whole situation is mired in corruption and complicity.

The only publicity the situation has garnered internationally was in 2014 when 300 Chibok schoolgirls were abducted by Boko Haram. Since then, the western press has chosen to focus on Brexit and Trump while the schoolgirls remain missing. Christians are being murdered and their villages destroyed across Nigeria and the world will continue to turn a blind eye.