The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has condemned what is called “organized and systematic eliminations” of christians preaching the gospel across the country by “bloodthirsty Islamic fundamentalists who move around, identifying and killing people whose only crime is spreading the news of salvation”.
The association, an umbrella body of members of all christian denominations in Nigeria, speaking through a spokesman who “for security reasons wanted to remain anonymous”, said “the situation has really gone out of control and many of our compatriots have been murdered in cold blood, by these satanic agents whose preoccupation is to decimate the body of Crist in the country”.
He said “a strongly-worded petition is being prepared and will be submitted to the appropriate political authorities and security agencies, detailing various victims of these attacks and the circumstances surrounding them” to let the world know the dangers of being a Christian in Nigeria.
The spokesman specifically mentioned the case of a young evangelist who narrowly escaped being killed on January 18 at a spot in Ikire along the Ibadan-Ife expressway, when he was waylaid by assailants who had been on his trail with the intention of killing him.
According to him, “last Tuesday, we received a distress call by sympathizers who briefed our office about a botched assassination attempt on an evangelist who was traveling on the road when the assailants struck.
“The good Samaritans, whose appearance on the spot saved the situation as the assailants who were dressed like Fulani herdsmen fled into the bush, took the victim, who gave his name as Olalekan Abdulazeez Olayori to a hospital where he requested them to help contact the nearest CAN office.
“The evangelist who disclosed to us that a Fatwa had been passed on him because of the extensive evangelism work he had done in the Northern part of the country, said he had been living under the shadow of death and was already contemplating fleeing Nigeria when the attack came.
Stressing that it was pertinent to disclose the identity of the evangelist in order to let the security agencies and other concerned authorities know how to give him protection and let the whole world know the horrendous persecution that the body of Christ is facing in Nigeria, the CAN official, said the association was also looking at cases of similar nature across the country.
On whether CAN would oblige journalists an opportunity to talk to the victim, the official said “presently he is under a protective medical care at an undisclosed location in Ibadan and we would not like to subject him to a public interview now because of the trauma he is passing through.
“He would certainly speak to the press but again, that depends on what advice his immediate family gives him. And he might not want to further compound the situation as such publicity might even attract other groups of fundamentalists to get on his trail. Personally I have advised him to stay under the wraps and watch his steps because these people are like Mafia with eyes everywhere.”
It would be recalled that former President Donald Trump had cautioned former Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari who was a visit to White House some years back to protect the lives of Christians in Nigeria
In recent times there have been killings and kidnapping of some Christian clerics especially in the North
A young Christian school student Deborah Samuel Yakubu was stoned to death in May 2022 by some fanatical moslems in Sokoto over an alleged blasphemy on the Prophet Muhammad, none of the perpetrators have been prosecuted till date