06/01/2021 Nigeria (International Christian Concern) – According to Morning Star News, A Christian missionary and pastor was killed by suspected Fulani radicals on May 21st, along with his three-year-old son. The attack took place in Niger state, Nigeria.
“Our missionary brother, Pastor Leviticus Makpa, was shot dead with his son by Fulani bandits,” area resident Deborah Omeiza told Morning Star News in a text message. “His wife escaped with their daughter.”
The pastor served as a church planter and established a Christian school in Niger states Kamberi village.
“He established the only Christian school in the village and raised many souls,” said Samuel Solomon, a close friend of Pastor Makpa. “He came and attended the last Christian conference with us, and we had planned on how to adopt him as our missionary, but painfully he has joined the league of martyrs in Heaven. His blood will testify over the land and also against the insecurity of a corrupt Islamist government in Nigeria.”
The Fulani Militia is the fourth deadliest terror group in the world and has surpassed Boko Haram as the greatest threat to Nigerian Christians. Many believe that the attacks are motivated by jihadist Fulani’s desire to take over farmland and impose Islam on the population and are frustrated with the Muslim-dominated government that is believed to be enabling such atrocities. On December 7th, The U.S. State Department added Nigeria to their list of Countries of Particular Concern for tolerating “systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom.”
Recently, in The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) 2021 annual report, Commissioner Gary L. Bauer described Nigeria as a “killing field” of Christians and warns that the nation is moving toward a Christian genocide.
“All too often this violence is attributed to mere “bandits” or explained away as hostility between farmers and herdsmen,” stated Bauer. “While there is some truth in these assertions, they ignore the main truth: radical Islamists are committing violence inspired by what they believe is a religious imperative to ‘cleanse’ Nigeria of its Christians. They must be stopped.”
Please pray for the grieving friends and family of those who have been killed in Nigeria, and for the government to gain wisdom and motivation to protect its Christian citizens. Please also pray for the world to recognize the scale of the suffering that believers endure in the country, as well as for the souls of those who persecute the church, that all will repent and find salvation in Christ.
For interviews, please contact Addison Parker: press@persecution.org.
