Over 15,000 Christians in the North were killed between 2015 and 2019 in attacks targeted at Christian communities by insurgents and bandits, a coalition of Christians under the aegis of Ecumenical Youths Association, has said.
The President of EYA, Daboikiabo Warmate, stated this in an interview with The PUNCH after a press conference on the state of the nation in Abuja.
He said, “The killing of Christians, especially in northern Nigeria is becoming something that every Christian should not sleep about and it has been every day. Every human life is sacrosanct but the painful thing is that the killers have targets, which are the Christian communities.
“Check all their attacks, 90 per cent of the victims of their attacks are the Christian communities. Why is it so? Check Southern Kaduna; ironically, Kaduna is hosting the highest military equipment in Nigeria. Why is it that they always have access to Kaduna, Adamawa and Madagali? Nigerian Christians should defend themselves because the Nigerian constitution allows self defence if there is a threat to life.
“The Christian communities are victims and that is why we are crying out because the number of orphans, widows and widowers is growing at an astronomical level among these victims of unprovoked killings in northern Nigeria.
He added, “Between 2015 and 2019, over 15,000 Christians have been killed and majority of the people that were killed are Christians. Between January 1, 2020 and now, the bandits have killed no fewer than 1,000 Christians in northern Nigeria because of attacks on Christian communities.
“If Nigeria could fight Biafran, forces during the civil war to a standstill, why can’t the same strength be used in fighting Boko Haram and other bandits in the North that are hiding in the bush?”
He said it had been very tragic for Christians in Nigeria in recent years, starting from the Baga massacre to the kidnap of Leah Sharibu and the beheading of 11 Nigerian Christians by Islamic State in West Africa on Christmas Day.
“From the kidnap of four seminarians of the Good Shepherd Catholic Seminary in Kakau, along Kaduna-Abuja Road and the most recent killing of 35 and abduction of 58 persons as bandits raided 10 communities in the Chikun and Brinin Gwari local government areas of Kaduna State, on January 13, 2020, just to mention but a few,” he said.
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