“Kidnappings are a hallmark of terrorist organizations in Nigeria … and clergy are increasingly being targeted,” the new ACN report said.
With over 30 million faithful, Catholics make up a large minority in Nigeria, accounting for approximately 14.82% of the country’s population.
Yet, violent persecution in Nigeria has become a growing concern in recent years, according to many religious freedom organizations, including ACN.
Both priests and lay faithful are regularly targeted by Islamic terror groups such as Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), and militant Fulani.
In June of last year, gunmen believed to be Islamic Fulani extremists opened fire on Catholic worshippers attending Pentecost Mass at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in southwestern Nigeria, killing at least 50.
Maryamu Joseph, 16, shared her story with ACN after only two months since escaping captivity.
She was only 7 years old when Boko Haram attacked her village, called Bazza, taking her captive for nine years.
“Words cannot do justice to what I’ve gone through,” Joseph told ACN. “They murdered without remorse, like it’s a normal thing to do.”
“Right before my eyes, they took one of my siblings and killed him. They cut off his head, then his hands, legs, and stomach … I was devastated. I asked myself, ‘Who’s next?’”
According to Joseph, the Christians of her village faced particularly cruel treatment.
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“They put the Christians in cages, like animals. The first thing they did was forcefully convert us to Islam. They changed my name to Aisha, a Muslim name, and warned us not to pray as Christians or we would be killed,” Joseph said.
Janada Marcus, 22, was forced to flee Boko Haram with her family twice before the terrorists attacked them again in the city of Maiduguri. In this attack, Janada’s father was told to either rape her or be killed.
“With a machete pointed at my father’s forehead, he looked at my mother and at me, but I avoided eye contact because I was ashamed to look him in the face, ashamed of what the men had suggested — it was an abomination!” Marcus told ACN. “My father put his head down in submission to be killed and answered: ‘I cannot sleep with my own flesh and blood, my own daughter, I would rather die than commit this abomination.’”
Her father was beheaded, and Marcus continued to suffer at the hands of the Islamic terrorists.
“They took me to the bush and tortured me severely, emotionally, physically and mentally for six days. I suffered a lot of terrible and wicked experiences — beyond explanation — that made those six days seem like six years,” Marcus said.
By sharing these testimonies, ACN said it seeks to call attention to Nigerian persecution, which has only continued to rise.
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