ICC Note:
01/26/2014 Nigeria (Frontpage Magazine) – The fierce persecution of Christians courtesy of their Muslim neighbors is an epidemic—and yet it is among the least talked about forms of contemporary oppression.
In Nigeria, for instance, the persecution is “extreme,” according to Open Doors, an organization dedicated to combating anti-Christian persecution. There are 183 million Nigerians, of which 89 million are Christian. Yet Boko Haram—an Islamic militant outfit—has rendered peaceful co-existence impossible. In northeastern Nigeria, Muslims have declared a caliphate. Hundreds of children, boys and girls, as well as women have been abducted, and thousands more have been rendered homeless upon the destruction of their homes. In the twelve northern Sharia states, Christians have been all but squeezed out.
Oliver Dashe Doeme of Maiduguri, a bishop and the head of a diocese in northeastern Nigeria, gave an interview with Catholic On-Line. He relays how over the last five years, Muslims have all but reduced his diocese to ashes. Over 50 churches and chapels have been ruined, and hundreds have been abandoned. Worse of all, more than 1,000 Catholics have been murdered.
The Bishop reports that Catholics are forced at gun-point or knife-point to convert to Islam. If they fail to do so, they are slaughtered.
For the sake of saving the lives of Christians, not just in Nigeria, but in the region, he pleads with “Western powers” to intervene. Only something of a military onslaught against Boko Haram can stop it, he believes.
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