NIGERIA
Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. Christianity in Nigeria has a history stretching back to the 15th century, introduced by Portuguese explorers and missionaries. While early efforts were limited, sustained missionary work began in the 19th century, particularly with the arrival of British Protestant and Catholic missionaries. This led to significant growth, especially with the return of freed Christian slaves who actively spread the faith. Today, Nigeria has a large Christian population, but also faces religious tensions and conflicts, particularly in the north. Portuguese explorers and Catholic missionaries, including Augustinians and Capuchins, first introduced Christianity to the Nigerian coast, specifically the kingdoms of Benin and Warri. These early missions focused on baptizing local elites and establishing trade links, but had limited long-term impact due to a focus on trade and the reversion to traditional practices.
Catholic missionaries also arrived as merchants in the 17th century, but kings and rulers were more interested in trade goods than the new religion. The 19th century saw the beginning of significant missionary activity, coinciding with British colonial expansion and the abolition of the slave trade. Protestant groups like the Church Missionary Society (CMS), Methodists, and Baptists established missions, particularly in southern Nigeria and the Middle Belt. The CMS, led by Henry Townsend, founded a mission in Badagry in 1842, marking the formal introduction of Anglicanism in Nigeria. Methodist missionary Birch Freeman also established congregations in Yoruba areas like Abeokuta and Lagos. The return of freed Christian slaves, including Samuel Ajayi Crowther, played a crucial role in spreading Christianity, particularly in the Yoruba region. Crowther, a former slave, was later ordained as the first African Anglican Bishop of the Niger, a significant milestone in the indigenization of Christianity in Nigeria. Catholic missions were revived in the 1860s, focusing on southeastern Nigeria, particularly Igboland, with Onitsha becoming a key Catholic mission center. Christianity grew exponentially, aided by missionary efforts, the return of freed slaves, and the establishment of schools and other institutions. However, religious tensions and conflicts with other religious groups, particularly Muslims, emerged, leading to violence and political opposition. The rise of Boko Haram, an Islamist militant organization, has further exacerbated religious tensions, with attacks on Christians and churches. Despite these challenges, Christianity continues to be a major religion in Nigeria, with a large and growing population.
Catholic missionaries also arrived as merchants in the 17th century, but kings and rulers were more interested in trade goods than the new religion. The 19th century saw the beginning of significant missionary activity, coinciding with British colonial expansion and the abolition of the slave trade. Protestant groups like the Church Missionary Society (CMS), Methodists, and Baptists established missions, particularly in southern Nigeria and the Middle Belt. The CMS, led by Henry Townsend, founded a mission in Badagry in 1842, marking the formal introduction of Anglicanism in Nigeria. Methodist missionary Birch Freeman also established congregations in Yoruba areas like Abeokuta and Lagos. The return of freed Christian slaves, including Samuel Ajayi Crowther, played a crucial role in spreading Christianity, particularly in the Yoruba region. Crowther, a former slave, was later ordained as the first African Anglican Bishop of the Niger, a significant milestone in the indigenization of Christianity in Nigeria. Catholic missions were revived in the 1860s, focusing on southeastern Nigeria, particularly Igboland, with Onitsha becoming a key Catholic mission center. Christianity grew exponentially, aided by missionary efforts, the return of freed slaves, and the establishment of schools and other institutions. However, religious tensions and conflicts with other religious groups, particularly Muslims, emerged, leading to violence and political opposition. The rise of Boko Haram, an Islamist militant organization, has further exacerbated religious tensions, with attacks on Christians and churches. Despite these challenges, Christianity continues to be a major religion in Nigeria, with a large and growing population.
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Diplomatic Snub: US Broadcaster Rejects Oluremi Tinubu’s Interview Request Amidst $9m Lobbying Row In a stinging public rejection, prominent American broadcast journalist and President of the Family Research Council, Tony Perkins, has revealed he refused an interview request from Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, during her recent high-profile visit to the United States. Speaking on his program, Washington Watch, Perkins disclosed that the First Lady’s team sought a platform to discuss religious freedom in Nigeria. However, the broadcaster summarily rejected the approach, citing concerns that the administration was attempting to “cover up” ongoing persecution. “The First Lady of Nigeria was here this week, and in fact, they wanted to come on the programme to talk about religious freedom, and I said, ‘I’m not gonna meet with them or have a meeting with anybody,’” Perkins stated during his broadcast. He added pointedly, “I’m not gonna give them a platform to cover up what they’re doing in Nigeria”. (247 UReports; 2.8.26) READMORE>>>>>
Trump’s bombing of Nigeria is showmanship for his evangelical base It’s about ‘saving Christians’ says the US president, but as Foreign Editor David Pratt reports, it’s yet more proof that his administration is opportunist and far from ‘isolationist’ Nigerians call Gombe the ‘jewel in the savannah.’ But nothing much glitters in this impoverished region. As the capital city of Gombe State in the northeast of the country, many who live there either by choice or because of enforced displacement, have had direct experience of the horrors of Islamist inspired terrorism. Baba Hadiya never saw the suicide bomber who detonated the explosion. All she knows is that when it ripped through the local marketplace, it blew off her left arm beneath the elbow, blinded her in one eye and killed her sister .(The Herald; 12.27.25) READMORE>>>>> Trump says he’s protecting Nigerian Christians. His admin is blocking them from coming to the US The United States launched more than a dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles on Nigeria on Christmas Day after President Donald Trump accused the West African country’s government of failing to protect persecuted Christians. U.S. military officials said the attack, which they said was coordinated with Nigerian authorities, targeted ISIS-linked groups that Trump has accused of “targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries.” But the strikes follow the Trump administration’s drastic reduction of the number of refugees admitted into the United States each year, while adding Nigeria to a growing list of countries where travel and immigration into the country has been severely restricted. (The Independent; 12.28.25) READMORE>>>>> Trump supporters hail US strikes in Nigeria as ‘amazing Christmas present’ Key The US’s Christmas Day strikes against Islamic State targets in Nigeria have been met with praise by Donald Trump supporters who for months had been agitating for the president to respond forcefully to the killings of Christians in the country. “I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Christmas than by avenging the death of Christians through the justified mass killing of Islamic terrorists,” the far-right political activist Laura Loomer posted on X. “You’ve got to love it! Death to all Islamic terrorists! Thank you.”Loomer said she had been informed by the US defense department – which the Trump administration calls the war department – that the American cruise missile strikes carried out with the Nigerian government’s cooperation had been “a direct response to [IS] jihadi terrorists killing Christians in Nigeria”. (The Guardian; 12.26.25) READMORE>>>>> Jesus: Born In Judea, Fled To Egypt; Thank God Not To Maga America So today – Christmas – watch carefully. Watch as MAGA Republicans who champion mass deportations attend church. Watch as they praise the Holy Family while endorsing policies that would have destroyed it. Watch as they worship the immigrant Christ while rejecting immigrants at the border. If MAGA Republicans had governed Judea, there would be no resurrection – only removal. No salvation – only separation. No Gospel – only a case number.Today is Christmas, and we celebrate Christ’s holy birth. But even as we do so, let us speak plainly, because clarity is the enemy of hypocrisy. This holy child, born today, did not spend his first nights in peaceful domestic bliss. He spent them fleeing. Jesus’s first act on earth was not a miracle; it was survival. His first identity was not “a savior,” “a teacher,” or “a king.” It was a refugee. Before Jesus ever walked on water, before He turned water into wine, before He ever fed the multitudes, before He ever preached a sermon or healed the sick, He crossed a border to save His life.That is not a metaphor. That is not liberal theology. That is not woke exegesis. That is not an MSNBC talking point. That is scripture. That is the Gospel of Matthew. An angel came to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up. Take the child and his mother and flee because King Herod is coming for the child.’ The angel did not say ‘apply’; he did not say ‘wait your turn’; he did not say ‘file paperwork’. The angel said ‘flee’ because King Herod and the government were coming for the baby. (Dr. Vitus Ozoke ; Opinion Nigeria 12.25.25)READMORE>>>>>> Dec 25, 2025: TV Nigeria: Senator Abiru Calls For Embodiment Of Christ-Like Traits, Says Economy Recovering Nigerian Americans to Congress: 'Stop the Christian Genocide' On the grounds of the Capitol earlier this month, hundreds of Nigerian Americans and their supporters gathered to urge Congress to pass a bill recognizing that there is Christian genocide in Nigeria. Among the speakers was Stephen Osemwegie, the president and founder of Save Nigeria Group USA, who praised lawmakers who have spoken out on the genocide, such as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. He also hailed President Donald Trump for his words on the growing crisis in Nigeria. On Nov. 1, the president officially labeled Nigeria as a "country of particular concern"—meaning that a country violates religious freedom, according to the U.S. government's definition. (Newsmax; 2.19.25)READMORE>>>>>> More than 300 taken from Nigeria school in one of worst mass abductions More than 300 children and staff are thought to have been abducted from a Catholic school in Nigeria this week, one of the worst mass kidnappings ever recorded there. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said on Saturday it had raised its estimate of those taken from St Mary's School in Niger state on Friday to 315 from an earlier estimate of 227 following a "verification exercise". "This now makes it 303 students (and) ... 12 teachers, bringing the total number of abducted persons to 315," it said in a statement, adding the new figure included 88 students who had been captured as they tried to escape. (Reuters 11/22/25) READMORE>>>> |
January 25, 2025: Alabama Baptist reported: A Christian woman falsely accused of blasphemy and jailed for 19 months has been acquitted, according to the legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom International. A judge in Nigeria’s Bauchi state disclosed in December 2024 the acquittal of Rhoda Jatau, ADF International announced and the news outlets Christian Daily International and Morning Star News reported. Jatau was arrested in May 2022 and was not granted bail until December 2023. She was accused of sharing a video on WhatsApp that condemned the May 2022 killing of college student Deborah Emmanuel Yakubu. Muslim classmates in Sokoto killed Yakubu for telling people about Jesus Christ. They then burned her body.
June 1, 2025: The Authority reported: A Christian advocacy group based in Benue State has raised concerns over what it perceives as growing foreign involvement in Nigeria’s internal affairs, warning that such meddling—alongside domestic political opportunism—could threaten the country’s unity and sovereignty. The Concerned Christians of Benue State (CCBS), in a statement signed by its chairman, Matthew Samuel, expressed alarm over what it described as calculated efforts by international actors, in collaboration with some local figures, to exploit Nigeria’s ethnic and religious divides—particularly in the northern region. “Nigeria is once again at the crossroads of faith, patriotism, and the quest for peace,” the statement read.
June 10, 2025: Daily Trust reported: Ahead of the Lagos State Local Government Election scheduled for July 12, a non-governmental organisation, Centre for Politics and Governance (CPG), has called for greater participation of the Christians in the political process. This comes as the group alleged marginalisation of Christians in the recently concluded primaries for the local council elections in Lagos State. Speaking during a press briefing in Lagos, the President of CPG, Bishop Stephen Ogedengbe, said the organisation has received numerous complaints from aggrieved aspirants, many of whom alleged religious imbalance and exclusion in the outcome of recent party primaries.
June 15, 2025: O.organzier reported: Fulani Islamic terrorists have unleashed yet another massacre in Nigeria’s Benue State, burning alive entire families and killing 100 Christians in Yelewata village. The carnage marks a chilling escalation in the Middle Belt’s ongoing genocide against Christians, part of a broader Africa-wide jihad spreading from West Asia, now targeting the heart of the continent......
July 18, 2025: Catholic World Report reported: A prominent Nigerian Catholic researcher and criminologist has issued a stark warning: Christianity could disappear from Nigeria within the next 50 years if the persecution of Christians continues and an agenda of Islamization succeeds. Emeka Umeagbalasi, Director of the Catholic-inspired International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety), made these remarks following a recent attack on the Immaculate Conception Minor Seminary in Ivhianokpodi village, within the Auchi Diocese in Edo State.
October 8, 2025: Aljazeera reported: nited States Senator Ted Cruz has accused Nigeria’s government of enabling a “massacre” against Christians, citing a rising number of attacks against the community in the country’s troubled centre. In an X post on Tuesday, Cruz said 50,000 Christians have been killed since 2009 with 2,000 schools and 18,000 churches destroyed by what he called “Islamist” armed groups, but he did not cite sources for the information. Cruz, who counts evangelical Christians among his base, has introduced a bill to sanction Nigerian officials whom he accused of “ignoring and even facilitating the mass murder of Christians”
October 31, 2025: Sky News reported: Donald Trump has said he is designating Nigeria a "country of particular concern" as "thousands of Christians" are being killed there. Posting on Truth Social, he said radical Islamists are committing "mass slaughter" and Christianity is "facing an existential threat" in the West African nation. |
November 8, 2025: The Intercept reported: After threatening last weekend to go “guns-a-blazing” into Nigeria in defense of Christian Nigerians, President Donald Trump has ended protection for another group facing violence and political instability. On Wednesday, the Trump administration terminated temporary protected status shielding immigrants from South Sudan from deportation, even though the African nation has faced escalating violence, political instability, and food insecurity in recent weeks. The announcement stands in stark contrast to another recent decision from the administration to give Afrikaners priority for asylum, even as the State Department moved to severely limit refugee admission to the United States. The president has justified prioritizing white South Africans by spreading misleading claims about the persecution and killings of white farmers. While Trump’s immigration and foreign policy stances in relation to these three countries may seem disjointed, experts on white supremacy and Christian nationalism told The Intercept that it all fit into the white Christian nationalist playbook. Trump’s strategy feeds into his base’s fears over immigration and demographic change while positioning the president as a defender of Christian values.
November 11, 2025: Daily Maverick reported: The US should do its own homework and listen to what Nigerians are saying themselves about the jihadist violence. It was late night talk show host Bill Maher who brought the issue to the American public on 26 September 2025 when he spoke of the systematic killing of Christians in Nigeria. More 100,000 Christians have been killed, and 18,000 churches have been churches burnt by Boko Haram since 2009, he stated. It did not take long for the Christian political right to start mobilising. US Republican Senator Ted Cruz claimed a “Christian mass murder” was occurring in Nigeria. This morphed into talk of a Christian genocide. Senator Cruz went further accusing Abuja of ignoring and enabling the mass murder of Christians, and introduced a bill aiming to sanction Nigeria. Echoing Senator Cruz, President Donald Trump has accused the Nigerian government of not doing enough to halt the murder of Christians and has ordered the US military to prepare for an attack on Nigeria.
November 13, 2025: The Guardian reported: The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the 19 Northern states has affirmed that the killings of Christians in Northern Nigeria amount to genocide, adding that the denial of Christian genocide is an injustice to victims and the faith community This is as the chairman of the Presidential Committee on Tax Policy and Fiscal Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, yesterday dismissed claims that the recent sell-off in the Nigerian capital market was triggered by foreign investors reacting to U.S. President, Donald Trump’s comments about Nigeria. Speaking on Channels Television’s Business Morning, Oyedele explained that the fluctuations in the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) were part of normal market cycles rather than politically driven sell-offs.
November 19, 2025: BBC Reported: Award-winning rapper Nicki Minaj has publicly backed President Donald Trump's allegations that Christians face persecution in Nigeria. "In Nigeria, Christians are being targeted," Minaj said on Tuesday at an event organised by the US, adding: "Churches have been burned, families have been torn apart... simply because of how they pray." Analysts say that jihadists and other armed groups have waged campaigns of violence that affect all communities in the West African nation, regardless of background or belief. This week alone, two people were killed in an attack on a church in Kwara, while a group of 25 girls, who the BBC has been told are Muslim, were abducted from a school.
February 1, 2023: Mission Box reported: More Christians are killed for their faith in Nigeria than in the rest of the world combined. Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) faces a vast humanitarian catastrophe, as a wave of religiously motivated violence nurtured in Nigeria has swept across the region, targeting Christian populations at an alarming rate in countries like Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mali and Niger. Signs of jihadist expansion are also clearly visible in Mozambique , Congo DR and other countries. This is the disturbing finding of Open Doors’ 2023 World Watch List.
March 27, 2023: Church Leaders reported: Fulani herdsmen and other terrorists killed 27 Christians in two attacks tin March 2023 in Kaduna state, Nigeria, local sources said. Both attacks took place in Zangon Kataf County, where 10 Christians were killed on March 14 in Langson village and 17 slain in Ungwan Wakili village on March 10, residents said.
June 13, 2022: Catholic News Agency reported: More than a week after a devastating massacre at a Catholic church in Nigeria on Pentecost, an advocate for persecuted Christians says that Nigerian Christians largely do not view the U.S. government as a “credible partner” that will advocate on their behalf.