NIGERIA: To Kill a Good Man, To kill a Nation

Nigeria – Borno Governor says “Boko Haram on verge of seizing control of state.”
  

Rev. Faye Pama Musa killed by Boko Haram
(World Watch Monitor)

President’s State of Emergency decree fails to stop murder of Borno State CAN Secretary.
By Lekan Otufodunrin

(World Watch Monitor.org, May, 17, 2013) Borno State in Northern Nigeria has been teetering on the brink of a takeover by Islamist militant group Boko Haram, warned its Governor, Kassim Shettima, a few days before the declaration by President Goodluck Jonathan of a “state of emergency” in Borno and two neighbouring provinces.

The President’s declaration on Tuesday (May 14), which also applies to Yobe and Adamawa States in the country’s troubled North East region, was followed shortly after by the murder of the Secretary in Borno of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev Faye Pama Musa.

Musa, head of REME Assembly in Maiduguri (the Borno State capital) and Chairman of the state’s Pentecostal Fellowship, was reportedly shot at close range by two suspected Boko Haram members in his house, in the presence of his daughter, who pleaded with them to spare her father’s life.
A few days before, Borno's Governor Kassim Shettima had briefed visiting Senators and military advisers in a confidential security meeting on May 7, and warned them Boko Haram was close to seizing power in the state.

Shettima also said: “Underneath the mayhem of Boko Haram, beneath the madness lies the underlying cause, which is extreme poverty and destitution which have permeated all spectrums of our society.

“Only and until we address some of these issues, believe me, the future is very bleak for all of us as the current crisis is just an appetizer of things to come. Very soon the youths of this country will be chasing us away.”
Reuters quoted Senator Abdul Ahmed Ningi as saying: "What the governor said was frightening. He informed us there is a possibility that this state will be taken over by Boko Haram ... that they have the ability to do whatever they wanted here. I had thought Boko Haram had been subdued to some extent."

On May 14, CAN Chairman in the state, Reverend Titus Pona, who confirmed Musa’s death, said the Christian community in the state capital last week received a death threat from an unknown group to kill or kidnap a pastor, but it was dismissed.

“We never thought that the rumour could turn out to be true, and we’d told the Governor that our area was safe,” Pona told reporters in Maiduguri.

“Of course, there were no killings around this area before and where I am living has also been seen as safe, until they started killing people again. It is very unfortunate that they came to attack an innocent man.
“Our prayer and hope is that the amnesty declared by the President would help to fish out [those responsible] and bring them to justice for the innocent lives they have taken.”

The Governor promised in a condolence message to CAN that the perpetrators would be brought to justice and that Musa’s family would be provided for.

The National President of CAN, Ayo Oritsejafor, and Rev Felix Omobude of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, condemned Musa’s murder and called for improved security following Shettima’s admission that Boko Haram were on the verge of seizing control of the state.

Oritsejafor called for the dissolution of the committee created by the federal government to negotiate with Boko Haram and other violent groups in the country, saying “no reasonable agreements can be reached with terrorists”.

President Jonathan announced controversially last month that an amnesty was being considered with Boko Haram. Christian organizations and leaders responded almost universally negatively to this idea.

"Why should they be given amnesty?” said Rev. Joshua Ray Mains, Bauchi State Secretary. “Are we congratulating them for the people they have sent to their early graves, or are we encouraging them to continue with their acts so that other groups can take advantage of the amnesty and continue to disrupt the peace of the country?"
However, Bishop Matthew Kukah, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, supported the amnesty, saying in his Easter message it would bring the country closer to a new dawn.

“To reject amnesty is to place oneself at the same level as these miscreants,” he said. “An offer of amnesty is not the same as a declaration of amnesty. An offer of amnesty brings the penitent to the table as a first step. Amnesty is a process, not a destination. The offer of amnesty will not solve all our problems, but it will bring us closer to a new dawn.”

The declaration of emergency across the three states, and the resulting mass deployment of military has been welcomed by many groups in the country.

However, the Progressive Governors’ Forum had earlier “implored Mr. President to be consistent with the combination of dialogue and mediation which he has already set in motion, and [hold back from] action on the planned declaration of State of Emergency in the affected states, which we believe would be counter-productive”.

end

Question: Should a nation fight to defend itself?
How many times in Biblical or modern history did
God help Israel fight her enemies? Nigeria. 

-- Blessings, Bill

NIGERIA: Nine Christians killed, Four Churches burned

Christmas Love? Pray for the 100 Million's Persecuted and Abused around the World. What if it were you? 

Messiah Came! the Reason for the Season (by Bill Hunt)

Lagos, Nigeria, Dec. 4 (Open Doors News) — Nine Christians were killed and four Churches burned in two separate Dec. 1 attacks in northeast Nigeria by gunmen suspected to be members of the Boko Haram Islamist group.

The Christians and a Muslim were killed in Kwaple village, Chibok Local Government Area of Borno state when the Islamic group members went on rampage and burned 20 houses and a Church in the area, while three Churches were burned in Gamboru Ngala.

“I have just received a message from my people at Chibok and Gamboru Ngala that four of our Churches were attacked by the militants this morning and 10 people killed at Kwaple in Chibok LGA,” 

--the Borno State Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Rev. Titus Pona, said in a text message to the association’s president on Dec. 2.

Nuhu Clark, a former Chibok local government area council chairman, said the attackers entered the village at about 9 p.m. Saturday, then torched houses before using guns and machetes to kill their victims.

“Most of the victims were buried today,” Clark said on Sunday. “It is unfortunate that such could happen in such a peaceful village.”

According to Pona, the attackers burned The Church of the Brethren, Church of Christ in Nigeria, and Deeper Life Church Gamboru Ngala, and another Church of the Brethren in Chibok.

“It is clearly an attack on Christians by the Boko Haram members in a local government that that is predominantly Christian,” said a Christian leader in the region, who requested anonymity because churches had agreed that only the Christian Association of Nigeria chairman would speak to the press.

“The government is worried about the implication of this attack and is offering to support the rebuilding of the affected Churches.”

The State governor met Monday with state and local officials of the Christian association, the local government area council, and community leaders. They determined how to support the affected families.

“The affected families will be compensated, though life cannot be paid for,” said the anonymous Christian leader.

“The attack by members of the Islamic group, who are apparently not from the community, was unjustified and we have the assurance of the government that necessary measures will be taken to prevent a reoccurrence.”

Sunday Oibe, spokesman for the northern group of the Christian Association of Nigeria, decried the continued attacks on Christians, which he said were not getting enough attention from the government.

 “What people get to hear is just a fraction of the attacks Christians are subjected to,” Oibe said. “It is unfortunate that when the (Christian Association of Nigeria) president comments on the issue, they accuse him of not being sensitive or raising false alarm. We cannot continue to keep quiet in the face of provocative attacks like last Saturday’s attack in Borno.”

Borno State is the headquarters of the Boko Haram group that has launched various terrorist attacks in the country, killing hundreds.

Read the Persecution News at

www.OpenDoorsUSA.org/news/

Copyright 2012 Open Doors News
Open Doors News is distributed to raise awareness of Christians worldwide who are persecuted for their faith. Articles may be reprinted by active subscribers only.
For subscription information, contact: jeffth@opendoorsnews.org


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Pray for the World this Christmas.... 
Bill Hunt

   

Nigeria Bloody Massacre

Nigeria, 50 Christians martyred in church, 100 killed in 12 villages, farm crops ravaged by Boko Haram rebels.

Nigerian Farmers by Mike Blyth

(www.WikiMedia.org)

   

Church of Christ in Nigeria reeling from massacre.

JOS, Nigeria, July 11 (Open Doors News) – Church of Christ in Nigeria officials tell Open Doors News that their members in the Jos region are fleeing their homes, fearful of more violence in the wake of last weekend’s mass killings in Plateau state. 

 

After a week of rising tensions between the mainly Muslim ethnic Fulani and the mainly Christian ethnic Birom, about 50 members of the Church of Christ in Nigeria around the village of Maseh had fled their homes, taking refuge July 7 in the home their pastor.

The gunmen came Saturday, entering the home and opening fire. Then they burned the house.

“Fifty of our church members were killed in the church building where they had fled to take refuge. They were killed alongside the wife of the pastor and children,” said Rev. Dachollom Datiri, vice president of the Church of Christ in Nigeria, in a July 11 interview with Open Doors News at the church’s headquarters in Jos.

Church officials said that in all, about 100 Church of Christ members were killed in the weekend attacks in 12 villages: Maseh, Ninchah, Kakkuruk, Kuzen, Negon, Pwabiduk, Kai, Ngyo, Kura Falls, Dogo, Kufang, and Ruk.

In a country where Christians have suffered violence for more than a decade, last weekend’s mass killings nonetheless have left the Church of Christ, and much of the country, in shock.

“They are psychologically traumatized, and their productive economic activities are impeded,” said Rev. Obed Dashan, general secretary of the Church of Christ in Nigeria, of surviving church members. 

“Most of them are peasant farmers and the attacks have not allowed them to go to their farms. Even those that have planted crops have had their crops destroyed by the Muslim attackers.”

Church leaders claim the Nigerian government is turning a blind eye to persecution of Christians in the country, and fear more violence will occur as a result.

“The whole thing is coming to a head,” Datiri said. “It’s been a long-term thing planned by the Boko Haram. This is a jihadist movement with the agenda to Islamize the country. It is a jihad, a religious war against Christians for refusing to embrace Islam. So, they are using terrorism as a weapon. That is the reason you see that the target of their attacks are Christians and our churches.”

Copyright 2012 Open Doors News.

OpenDoors News is distributed to raise awareness of Christians worldwide who are persecuted for their faith. Articles may be reprinted by active subscribers only.

Let them be like chaff before the wind, And let the angel of the LORD chase them. Let their way be dark and slippery, And let the angel of the LORD pursue them. For without cause they have hidden their net for me in a pit, Which they have dug without cause for my life. Let destruction come upon him unexpectedly, And let his net that he has hidden catch himself; Into that very destruction let him fall (Psalm 35:5-8 NKJV).

The moron bully boys have slaughtered God's people, their own countrymen, butchering men, women, and children. The Christians killed are in the glorious presence of God.

We pray for the families and friends. We pray for the salvation of all the nation and people of Nigeria to be very strong in battling the cowardly attackers. We pray for the victory of the Nigerian Army.

We pray for God to overcome the Boko Haram rebels, to return them to peace and responsibility, to see the value in all God's Creation and people. We pray for their salvation.

 

– Bill Hunt

World in Christ

More Nigerians killed than officials know

Violence Continues in Nigeria as Bishop Akinola Warns President.

Warns Nigerian Anglican Bishop Peter Akinola.

(www.compassdirect.org)

 

By Abdias Pasoville

JOS, Nigeria, May 29 (Compass Direct News) – In Nigeria’s Plateau state, Christian leaders said more Christians have died at the hands of Muslim extremists than the 35 that the military reported thus far in May.

In three local government areas in Plateau state, armed Fulani herdsmen attacked 15 Christian villages, killing and maiming Christians, destroying homes and leaving more than 1,000 villagers displaced, sources said.

Villagers said the attackers were Muslim Fulani herdsmen likely supplied and instigated by Islamic extremist groups.

Sources told Compass that Muslim gunmen invaded Rinyam village on May 9 at about 12:30 a.m. and shot seven Christians in their homes, though increasingly assailants are using only machetes and knives to avoid notice by soldiers charged with keeping order.

The Nigerian president on Sunday (May 27) took pointed criticism over the violence. At a special worship service in Abuja for Democracy Day with President Goodluck Jonathan in attendance, the former Anglican primate of the Church of Nigeria, Peter Akinoloa, told those gathered at the National Christian Centre Abuja that the government should not dialogue with Boko Haram.

“They want to eliminate ‘infidels,’ which includes you, Mr. President,” Akinola said. “You open yourself to ridicule if you open dialogue to a group that has made the country ungovernable. Don’t treat them with kid gloves. You don’t dialogue with criminals.”

Speaking later, Jonathan said he has directed security agencies to launch a complete war against Boko Haram. 

“We have done a lot and committed resources to advance our security architecture in order to tackle terrorism, and, God willing, we shall overcome,” he said. “My request is for you to stand by me.”

See this articles on Compass Direct News.

Criticism – From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boko_Haram)


Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, the Niger State governor, has criticised the group saying "Islam is known to be a religion of peace and does not condone violence and crime in any form" and Boko Haram doesn't represent Islam.[23]
The Sultan of Sokoto Sa'adu Abubakar, the spiritual leader of Nigerian Muslims, has called the sect "anti-Islamic" and, as reported by the website AllAfrica.com, "an embarrassment to Islam."[24]
The Coalition of Muslim Clerics in Nigeria (CMCN) have called on the Boko Haram to disarm and embrace peace.[25]
The Islamic Circle of North America,[26] the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada,[27] The Muslim Council of Britain,[28] the Organization of Islamic Cooperation[29] and the Council on American Islamic Relations[30] have all condemned the group.

In God's World,

I believe we have an obligation to pray for our fellow Christians in the Persecuted Church. I am disheartened at those, indeed, who take no interest in the suffering of all the peoples and nations in the World, in the slaughter and torment of men, women, and children by evil men, the forces of satan. It's so easy to pray. Yet, prayer is the most powerful force in Creation. The darkness of evil hates the Light of God. If we are followers of He who is the Light, then we must pray for the World. Will you?

John 3:19 NKJV: "And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”

– Bill Hunt

World in Christ

Parents Loss of Daughter in Nigeria

Pray for Freedom of Religion and Brotherhood in the Great Nation of  NIGERIA.

IN MEMORY Simi Maltida Kim

 

Young Lab Tech student, Simi Maltida Kim, troubled by Muslim college instructor disappears in Nigeria's volatile Northeast Bauchi state. My heart grieves for the death of this young Lab Tech student, Simi Maltida Kim. She was bullied by her Muslim instructor at the Federal Polytechnic in Northeastern Nigeria’s Bauchi state in Bauchi city. Then Simi was kidnapped on her way home,  Sept. 1, 2011, disappeared, likely abused, and now reported murdered for her Christian Faith.


By Obed Minchakpu

Summary:
BAUCHI, Nigeria, March 22 (Compass Direct News) – Nearly seven months after their 24-year-old daughter disappeared during a wave of Islamic extremist violence here, Helen and Dakim Gyang Bot can only assume that the voice on the other end of her cell phone that told them “we have killed her” was telling the truth.

The body of Simi Maltida Kim has not been found, and those who answered the active Catholic’s cell phone shortly after she disappeared on Sept. 1, 2011 did not indicate why they killed her.

But there are signs that she was one of the hundreds of victims of Islamic extremist violence in northern Nigeria last year that has driven thousands of Christians to flee.

The Bots live in an undisclosed town near Jos, in Plateau state, but their daughter was a final-year student of Science Laboratory Technology at the Federal Polytechnic in Northeastern Nigeria’s Bauchi state. An instructor there had troubled her about her faith in Christ and unduly failed her on an exam in an effort to get her to recant, her mother said.

Her father said that when she did not answer her cell phone and did not return home on day she had said she would, the family was all the more anxious because news had filtered into town that Christians were being killed in Bauchi city. The family reported the disappearance to authorities and continued to call her mobile phone; on one attempt, a female voice said,

“Don’t ever call this phone number again – we have killed her, so stop wasting your time looking for her,” her father said.

The priest at the family’s church told Compass that Kim might well have been killed by Muslim extremists in Bauchi.

“We learned that many Christians were killed in Bauchi at that time, so we are convinced that she must have been killed, too,” he said.

Read the report at www.compassdirect.org

But GOD warns the Persecutors 
of His People....
 
“Therefore all those who devour you shall be devoured; And all your adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; Those who plunder you shall become plunder, And all who prey upon you I will make a prey” (Jer 30:16 NKJV).

“Remember the prisoners as if chained with them--those who are mistreated--since you yourselves are in the body also” (Heb 13:3 NKJV).
Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah King, is seen by many walking the World into the hearts of men and women today.
“For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, As the waters cover the sea” (Hab 2:14 NKJV).

Q. Do you have the Faith to Pray for People World-Wide?
– Bill Hunt