Nigeria

JOS, Nigeria – Muslim extremists from the Boko Haram sect on Tuesday shot and killed a Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) pastor and his church secretary in Maiduguri, in northeastern Nigeria’s Borno state.

The Rev. David Usman, 45, and church secretary Hamman Andrew were the latest casualties in an upsurge of Islamic militancy that has engulfed northern Nigeria this year, resulting in the destruction of church buildings and the killing and maiming of Christians.

The Rev. Titus Dama Pona, pastor with the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) in Maiduguri, told Compass that Pastor Usman was shot and killed by the members of the Boko Haram near an area of Maiduguri called the Railway Quarters, where the slain pastor’s church is located. more >>

A communiqué signed at an Anglican Church of Nigeria diocesan Synod has praised the country’s representatives for overseeing successful and internationally credited elections, and has urged newly elected political leaders to fulfill their campaign promises.

Through the communiqué, the Synod commended the President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, for overseeing the successful recent elections in the country. The communiqué applauded Dr Jonathan for “ensuring that every Nigerian’s vote counted”.

The communiqué was jointly signed at the Anglican Synod of the Diocese of Oke-Ogun by the Rt. Rev. Solomon Olaniyi Amusan, who is the bishop for the Oke-Ogun Diocese, and the diocesan chancellor, the Honorable Justice Ayobode Lokulo-Sodipe. more >>

A bomb exploded in a military area in northern Nigeria Sunday night, killing 15 people just hours after Christian President Goodluck Jonathan was inaugurated.

Another 35 people were injured from the blast at the bar inside army barracks in Bauchi, Nigeria – a town that is a stronghold of the radical Muslim group known as Boko Haram (“Western education is sacrilege”), according to The Associated Press. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack on the military.

The bombing is seen as a challenge to the authority of Jonathan, a Christian from the South, by those who want a Muslim president installed. more >>

KURUM, Nigeria – As she lay on the ground after being shot and then slashed with a machete, Dune James Rike looked into her husband’s tear-filled eyes and asked, “Is this the end between us, so we shall not be together again?”

Pastor James Musa Rike told Compass he held the hands of his dying, 35-year-old wife and told her, “Hold on to your faith in Jesus, and we shall meet and never part again.”

Muslim extremists who attacked Kurum village, in the Bogoro local government area of Nigeria’s Bauchi state, had already killed two of the couple’s children in a rampage that began Wednesday (May 4) at midnight. Rike, pastor of a Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) congregation in Kurum, next heard the cries of his 13-year-old daughter, Sum James Rike, a few yards away. more >>

LAGOS, Nigeria (Compass Direct News) – Christian leaders have called for an investigation into political violence that targeted churches and Christian homes, with at least one clergyman saying Monday that Islamic attacks following the election of a Christian president were premeditated.

Pastor Emmanuel Nuhu Kure of Throneroom Trust Ministry based in Kafanchan in Kaduna state, reportedly said at a press briefing that the religious component of the political violence should not be discounted.

“How would you explain a spontaneous call to prayer on most of the loudspeakers of the mosques across the city at the same time, at 9 p.m. or thereabout in the night, with a shout of ‘Allah Akbar’ as Muslims began to troop towards the mosques and designated areas, to be followed at 10 p.m. with another call on loudspeakers – this time with a spontaneous shout of “Allah Akbar” from the mosques and most of the streets occupied by Muslims and the burst of gunfire sound that shook the whole city?” Pastor Kure said. “This was repeated a few times, and the killings and burnings began.” more >>

Deadly clashes between Muslims and Christians in the north of Nigeria following the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan has brought the death toll to over 500, according to a local civic group.

At least 516 people have died with the violence being the worst in Kaduna state, according to Shehu Sani, executive director of the Kaduna-based Civil Rights Congress.

Muslim opposition supporters of Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim and former military ruler, began rioting after the April 16 victory of Goodluck, a Christian from the south. Outraged over the 57 to 31 percent defeat, armed protesters took to the streets, chanting Buhari's name and attacking Christian supporters of the president. The violence which took place at churches, homes, and police states, also triggered retaliatory attacks by Christians. more >>