Persecution against Nigerian Christians continued from September into October, with fresh attacks in northeastern Nigeria’s Borno State. Mark Lipdo, the director of the Stefanos Foundation, a watchdog group based in Jos, told WORLD that Islamic militants burned more than 50 houses and vehicles and killed one man during the violent spree. This attack is only the most recent conducted by terrorist group Boko Haram.
The group, whose name means “Western education is sinful,” has said it will not stop its attacks until the Nigerian government institutes Sharia law across the entire country. Militants struck villages in Gwoza, behind the Mandara Mountains, around 8 p.m. Sept. 26, burning two Church of the Brethren (EYN) churches and killing one congregation’s pastor. Gwoza is the local government area of Borno State and about 80 miles south of Maiduguri, the headquarters for Boko Haram and the state’s capital.
Boko Haram killed about 800 people in hundreds of attacks last year. The U.S. State Department has named the group the second-most dangerous terrorist organization in the world. At the UN General Assembly, President Barack Obama’s first meeting was with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, and Obama called Boko Haram “one of the most vicious terrorist organizations in the world.” But despite the numbers and the president’s statement, the United States has failed to name the organization as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and violence against Christians has only increased.
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