Save the Persecuted Christians | July 31, 2020
STPC’s Frank Gaffney: ‘Nigeria Is Imploding. We Have a Chance to Keep It from Going Completely Bad’
WASHINGTON — A decades-long genocidal campaign against Christians in Nigeria has finally come to light, most recently in three reports by the International Committee on Nigeria (ICON) — a coalition partner of Save the Persecuted Christians (STPC) — urging the United Nations to condemn and halt the state-sponsored pogroms.
In addition to a report submitted to the U.N. special rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief for discussion at September’s U.N. General Assembly, ICON also released this week its comprehensive “Silent Slaughter Report,” addressing the genocide taking place in Nigeria against area Christians and the risks the violence poses to all of Nigeria. An incident tracker and a petition directed at the government of Nigeria are available at SilentSlaughterNigeria.com.
Using data from January 1, 2000, to January 31, 2020, ICON’s report exposes how one of the world’s deadliest terrorist groups, Boko Haram, has killed more than 43,000 Nigerians, the vast majority women and children. Additionally, it raises awareness of the continuing onslaught by Fulani Militants, who have killed nearly 19,000 Nigerians, primarily Christian farmers. Based on data collected, between 2000 and 2019, deaths resulting from Fulani Militant attacks include 17,284 across the country, 13,079 in predominantly Christian states (Benue, Kaduna, Plateau, and Taraba). That means three of every four Fulani Militant victims during this time were Christians.
Frank Gaffney, President and CEO of STPC, says the militant Islamists are targeting Christians in hope of turning Nigeria into a Caliphate.
“It is indeed the case that Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation,” Gaffney said at the National Press Club in March. “The argument can be made that it is its most important nation as well — its strategic location in West Africa, its resources and the wealth of the country — and the fact that Christians are being persecuted is happening because the people who are doing the persecution have recognized an opportunity to translate this particular piece of real estate into a caliphate that will make what ISIS established briefly in the Middle East pale into insignificance.”
The details of the reports from ICON reveal in no uncertain terms that the violence being waged against Nigerian Christians is genocide. The perpetrators deliberately murder heads of households, burn churches, and seek to displace Christian families from their long-held land in Nigeria’s middle belt. Human Rights experts Hon. Frank R. Wolf, Baroness Caroline Cox and Greg Stanton of Genocide Watch, who made remarks during the online press conference for the release of “Silent Slaughter,” concur with the findings.
Gaffney says the unmitigated violence may soon send Nigeria itself into a socio-economic tailspin unless international leaders intervene.
“If these forces come together, as they are, and succeed in being able to drive out of the nation many, if not virtually all, of the Christians, that crisis will be an affliction on all of Africa, Europe and the world beyond,” Gaffney said. “This is of the utmost strategic importance. Nigeria is imploding. We have a chance to keep it from going completely bad.”
A separate report from ICON to the United Nations General Assembly details genocidal violence against the Rigwe people, a predominately Christian people living in Plateau State. Almost 500 Rigwe Christians were murdered by Fulani Militants between 2015 and 2019, with deadly attacks continuing in 2020.
The mission of Save the Persecuted Christians is to save lives and save souls by disseminating actionable information about the magnitude of the persecution taking place globally and by mobilizing concerned Americans for the purpose of disincentivizing further attacks on those who follow Jesus.
With so much of the world’s Christian population being imprisoned and/or harassed for their beliefs, such as Christians in Nigeria, the need has never been greater for the sort of grassroots campaign STPC’s SaveUs Movement is working to foster. Its efforts are modeled after a miraculously successful one that helped free another population suffering from heavy persecution — Soviet Jews — by penalizing those in the Kremlin responsible for such repression. Through this movement, Save the Persecuted Christiansendeavors to provide American policymakers with the popular support they need to effect real change worldwide and alleviate systemically the suffering being experienced by so many of those following Christ.
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