A crowd protested Wednesday outside the Nigerian Embassy in Washington, D.C., demanding that more be done to rescue hundreds of girls kidnapped by terrorist group Boko Haram in Chibok, Nigeria. (Screen capture from FoxNews.com)
Nigeria (MNN/BP) — Attacks by terrorists against Christians in Nigeria continue, despite an advisory team of Americans now on the ground there. The advisors are there to help the Nigerian government find the more than 200 Christian and Muslim girls abducted by Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram. Baptist Press reports that Christians worldwide can help victims and their families.
Meanwhile, Islamic terrorists continue to attack mainly Christian communities, killing 300 and injuring many in the latest attack in Borno state, burning and destroying churches and homes, and stealing livestock, food and other supplies.
Adeniyi Ojutiku, a U.S.-based expert on Nigerian relations and a Southern Baptist and grassroots organizer in Raleigh, N.C. is encouraging Christians to pray for and send financial aid to victims and their families in his homeland, and to lobby Congress to hold Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration accountable for what some describe as insufficient outreach to help and protect victims.
Boko Haram kidnapped nearly 300 girls in the middle of the night three weeks ago from the Government Girls State School, and no one has been able to find the victims, 90 to 95% of whom are believed to be Christian. Boko Haram leaders have threatened to sell the girls as wives to Muslim men, and reports support that the girls may be used as sex slaves, Ojutiku said.
The number of victims varies, but 276 girls were kidnapped, and 53 escaped during the abduction or after the soldiers set up camp, leaving 223 missing–perhaps some of them killed,- according to information Ojutiku has secured. Girls who reportedly escaped may have actually been released, Ojutiku has learned, because the majority of them are Muslim.
“The families of these abducted girls are so distraught, to the point where they cannot engage in their normal economic activities …while they are still huddled down, looking for information and for the release of their children,” Ojutiku told Baptist Press.
“That area [Chibok] is 90 percent Christians. Therefore, it’s not just an abduction of girls; it’s an abduction of Christian girls,” he said. “We want to be able to also have opportunity to minister, not just materially but also to the spiritual trauma and the spiritual needs of the people. And also when this is all over, by God’s grace it will end on a good note, we’ll be able to help the people to move on in their lives.”
In the May 5 attack, Boko Haram targeted a local market and fired sporadic shots into the crowd before spending 12 hours killing and injuring defenseless civilians and destroying nearly every home and shop in Gamborou Ngala town in Borno, Vanguard News reported. In a separate Monday attack, Boko Haram kidnapped 8 additional teenage girls from Warabe, a village near the terrorists’ main base.
Ojutiku is co-founder of the Christian-based grassroots group Lift Up Now, working to improve the living conditions of Nigerians in his homeland and help them become economically stable and lead Christian lives. Lift Up Now has 2,000 volunteers across Nigeria and in this latest tragedy is partnering with reputable, like-minded organizations already on the ground in Nigeria to channel aid to victims.
“We are identifying such organizations, and we work with them in partnership,” Ojutiku said.
Among many needs are a trauma center to provide medical and psychological care to families and recovered victims, four-wheeled vehicles to help search rugged terrain, and communication equipment to help facilitate the search, Ojutiku said.
Christians will also need help rebuilding churches and structures destroyed in Monday’s attack and assistance reestablishing farming operations, Ojutiku said.
Demonstrations calling for the girls’ release have been held in D.C., Nigeria’s capital city of Abuja, London and other cities, and a Twitter campaign at #BringBackOurGirls has gone viral.
Ojutiku has arranged for donations to be made to The Lift Up Now Fund #1395781, through the National Christian Foundation (NCF) based in Atlanta with several offices across the U.S.
(Diana Chandler contributed this article and is general assignment writer/editor for Baptist Press, the Southern Baptist Convention’s news service.)
The terrorists are now attacking christians in Taraba-State, they targeted the two local govts that has high concentration of christians and have been attacking without any help for the people. They attack mostly in the night, killing and burning down houses of poor farmers in bali local govt. Media in Taraba is not carrying much of the news and they are also lying by calling the event inter tribal war. Which is not true. Infact the fulani herdsmen doing the killings are not nigerians. In Bali local govt. even the Fulanis ran away from the fulani killers.Now most of the farmers have fled and their houses and foodstuffs have been burnt down.Let us pray for them and ask God to restore peace to the land.