Pastors beheaded in Borno state, Nigeria

Twelve Christians were killed, including three pastors, in northern Nigeria after members of the Islamic militant group Boko Haram launched attacks on police and government bases on July 26. The violence, which began in Bauchi state, spread to the states of Borno, Kano and Yobe. Churches were set ablaze and several people were abducted, including Christians. Many believers were threatened with death if they refused to convert to Islam. According to an August 6 report from The Daily Sun, three pastors -- Pastor Sabo Yukubu, Pastor Sylvester Akpan and Pastor George Orji -- were brutally beheaded by assailants who were reportedly acting on the instruction of the militant group's leader, Mohammed Yusuf, who was later killed by authorities. The militants attempted to force the pastors to convert to Islam, but they refused to abandon their faith. They were then beheaded by guards who shouted "Allah Akbar" and fired several gunshots into the air in celebration.

Pray that God will comfort the families of those killed in these attacks. Pray that the peace of Christ will rule the hearts and minds of Nigerian Christians in the face of ongoing threats and danger (Philippians 4:7).

To find out more about how Christians suffer in Nigeria, click here.

Two Christians murdered in Kaduna

Brethren we need to pray. This is not a good story at all. Will the authorities make sure these perpetrators are brought to justice. We are yet to see. The church will continue to march on and the gates of hell will never prevail against it.

KADUNA, Nigeria, October 22 (Compass Direct News) – One man has been killed with a sword and another bludgeoned to death in this city in central northern Nigeria following Muslim leaders’ appeal to wage violent jihad against youthful Christians. Muslim extremists on October 12 murdered Henry Emmanuel Ogbaje, a 24-year-old Christian, at an area known as Gamji Gate. The following day, church leaders said, a young Christian identified only as Basil was beaten to death with wooden clubs in the same area. Ogbaje was a Sunday school teacher with the Military Protestant Church at Kotoko Barracks in Kaduna, while Basil, church leaders said, was a member of the Our Lady of Apostles Catholic Church. He was from Kagarko Local Government Area. Elder Saidu Dogo, secretary of the northern Nigeria chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), told Compass that Islamic leader Sheik Gumi had urged Muslims to wage jihad against Christians during Tafsir, the reading and interpretation of the Quran, in televised broadcasts during the Islamic month-long observance of Ramadan. “I saw Sheik Gumi on the television, NTA [Nigeria Television Authority], during that period preaching this inciting sermon – in fact, the same sermon was again broadcast by NTA Kaduna, on September 21 and 22,” Dogo told Compass. “He specifically called for a jihad, and that when they go killing they should not kill the elderly people, because the elderly have spent their years already, but that Muslims should kill young Christians.” Dogo said that Sheik Gumi justified his call for jihad by saying in the same way Muhammad captured the Arabian peninsula, and Usman dan Fodio influenced northern Nigeria. Sheik Gumi concluded that because the British took northern Nigeria from the Islamic reformer (1754-1817) by force, Muslims “should fight to take over Nigeria by going to war against Christians.” “With these kinds of statements coming from Muslim leaders, why would the followers of Islam not attack Christians?” Dogo asked. “We believe that the killing of Henry Ogbaje and Basil are the result of such sermons of these Muslim leaders.” Dogo expressed dismay that the NTA, an agency of the Nigerian government, could be used to air such inflammatory messages. Nor is the Nigerian government making any efforts, he said, to curb such manipulation of the media. Left for Dead Henry Ogbaje’s father, Sgt. Emmanuel Ogbaje, told Compass that his daughter phoned him in Abuja on October 12 with news that Muslims had beaten his son to death with wooden clubs. “She said they attacked him around the hours of five and six in the evening in the Gamji gate area, where they left him unconscious believing they had killed him,” Ogbaje said. “Henry was left in that state for about three hours with no one helping him.” The rest of the story is here.