Nigerian Christians ‘are sitting targets’
ICC Note
“How many more have to be killed before the Nigerian government acts to do something about this?”
07/24/2010 Nigeria (Inspire)-Human rights organisation Release International is warning that Christians in Nigeria are ‘sitting targets’, as news emerges that the family of a priest has been murdered in a machete attack in Jos.
A mob armed with guns and machetes attacked the Christian village of Mazah , on the outskirts of Jos, on 17 July. According to news reports, they killed the wife, two children and grandson of church leader Rev Nuhu Dawat ( Church of Christ in Nigeria ), and four others. Some reports put the death toll higher. Others were injured.
This is the latest in a series of attacks against Christian villages near Jos, in Plateau state, which have left hundreds dead. According to local rights groups, 1,500 people have been killed in inter-communal violence in the Jos region since the start of 2010.
“How many more have to be killed before the Nigerian government acts to do something about this?” asks Release CEO Andy Dipper. Release International is working to help persecuted Christians in Nigeria and around the world.
“Christians appear to be sitting targets,” says Andy Dipper. “Church leaders are calling on them to respond with grace and avoid violence, which Release supports. But as we recently reported, Christians are living in fear of further attacks, and the government seems to be doing little to help them. That has to change.
“Right now, it falls to Christians in the UK and around the world to pray for Nigeria ’s Christians, and to take practical action, too. Please lobby your MPs to get their plight raised high on the international agenda, and to press the Nigerian government to protect Christians from further attacks.”
