Nigeria is the country with the most Christians killed for nine out of the last ten years but humanitarian support for victims remains lagging. A US team recently returned from a relief mission to Nigeria stated this to mark the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted (IDOP 2022.)

Mission team leaders Dr William Devlin and International Human Rights Lawyer Emmanuel Ogebe of Widows & Orphans and US Nigeria Law Group report that only one out of 20 terror victims they met with had been assisted by the government and church on the 10th anniversary of the genocidal attacks of 2012. The majority of these victims were widows who lost sons, daughters and husbands as Boko Haram went house-to-house slaughtering Christians.

A wheelchair was donated to a widow whose son was paralyzed by a church bombing. The widows’ two other sons in the Nigerian Army were also wounded in action separately.

Ogebe and Devlin of the US team stated in their report dated November 7, 2022: “These victims have been failed by governments and churches both in Nigeria and America. While much has been said verbally & much money spent, there has been little to no direct impact on countless victims of Boko Haram terrorism.

“Furthermore, during a meeting with the US embassy, we stated that the disregard for the persecution of Christians in Nigeria has led inevitably to an unsafe environment for Americans in Nigeria and their unprecedented evacuation. The US Embassy just last week evacuated all USE non-essential personnel due to an elevated terror threat. We urged that the cohort of Western female ambassadors in Nigeria should do their best to help end the most horrible things in the world happening to women – mass sexual enslavement by Islamic State West Africa (ISWA). The US & UK should provide support to victims with the seized Abacha loot especially as they’ve neglected the middle belt in humanitarian assistance funding.

“Finally, we call on churches in America and Nigeria to be more engaged in helping thousands of victims. Next month will be 20 years since Boko Haram began violent attacks – which continue daily.”

This latest mission was the ninth trip to Nigeria in two years by the humanitarian team which has rebuilt churches destroyed by Fulani and Boko Haram terrorists in Benue and Yobe states, donated an orphanage and sponsored orphans’ education and victims’ medical treatment.

According to World Watch Monitor, in only one year (2014) did Syria exceed Nigeria for number of Christians killed in the decade since it began collating this data. In 2021, 80% of all global Christian deaths occurred in Nigeria. The latest data reveals a worsening of the situation from 2012 when Nigeria accounted for 60% of global Christian fatalities.

This year so far, a Christian is killed every two hours on average according to multiple human rights groups.

•PHOTO: Trauma healing & medical session with 20 survivors of Boko Haram terrorism marking the 10th anniversary of the Yobe massacre with US humanitarians Dr Devlin and Attorney Ogebe in northern Nigeria recently.

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