Boko Haram escalates terrorism against Christians of Nigeria

Ahmed Adel

Boko Haram continues to practice violence against Christians in Nigeria, carrying out operations targeting farmers in the Middle Belt area.

On April 14, a bus driver was killed on Kaduna-Kachia road in northern Nigeria when Boko Haram elements opened fire on the bus and another truck, and they demanded the church elements to pay about $245,000 for the release of four ladies.

The attack comes two weeks after the kidnapping of eight Christians on the Kaduna-Kachia road, 20 miles outside the city of Kaduna.

These terrorist incidents come seven years after Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls from a predominantly Christian school in Chibok, while Amnesty International said that the kidnappings forced hundreds of schools to close due to safety concerns and that hundreds of children were killed and raped or were forced to marry or join Boko Haram.

Kidnappings increase

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has noted an increasing number of kidnappings of students and other residents by terrorists and bandits who are copying Boko Haram’s tactics.

“Nigerians have waited a long time for the violence to stop,” USCIRF Vice President Tony Perkins said in remarks on Wednesday, April 15.

USCIRF noted the abductions of 600 students between December 2020 and March 2021, in addition to the ongoing attacks against Christian communities, Muslim gatherings and places of worship.

Emergence of radical Christian organizations

In another development that some see as a reaction to the escalating tide of sectarian violence in Nigerian society, many radical Christian organizations have emerged adopting slogans of protecting Christians from the attacks by Boko Haram. The most important of these groups is AKHWAT AKWOP.

Since its independence in 1960, Nigeria has been experiencing a sectarian conflict. Signs of intense sectarian strife have appeared between the Muslim Nigerian north and the Christian south in many matters. This sectarian environment has caused the terrorist group Boko Haram to dominate the Muslim north in a large way and to launch terrorist operations in the Christian south.