By Laurence F. Sanford

In Nigeria, 125,000 Christians have been murdered since 2009 by 20 separate Islamic terrorist groups, including Boko Haram, Alliance for Jihad, and Fulani Jihadist herdsmen. Over 19,000 churches have been razed, 1,000 Christian communities sacked, and 600 Christian clerics abducted by Islamic terror groups.

In 2014, during President Obama’s administration, Boko Haram kidnapped 276 predominantly Christian school girls, aged 16 to 18, who were taken into the bush, raped, and subjected to forced marriage with their Muslim captors.

Michelle Obama made the kidnapping into a public cause with the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls. Some of the girls escaped captivity, while others were rescued by the military and reunited with their families. Approximately 80 girls, now women, are still missing and assumed to be in captivity.

President Obama framed the Muslim genocide in Marxist terms as an economic issue between cattle herdsmen (oppressed) and farmers (oppressors) rather than a religious conflict between Muslims and Christians. Obama’s Secretary of State John Kerry wrote to the Christian president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, that the U.S. was deeply concerned that Nigerian security forces committed gross human rights violations in killing 30 Boko Haram terrorists.

Boko Haram means “Western education is sinful.” The group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, claimed responsibility for the mass abduction and threatened to sell the girls into slavery, which is permitted under Islam, as the girls were infidels.

Since 2014, Amnesty International has documented at least 17 cases of mass abductions in which at least 1,700 children have been seized from their schools.

The majority of murders are occurring in northern Nigeria, but persecution is also happening in Biafra, an oil-rich state in southeastern Nigeria. The majority of Biafrans are Christians and have unsuccessfully attempted to secede and form their own independent nation.

Not only is genocide being committed in Nigeria, but Christians are being persecuted and slaughtered by Muslims in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan, the Central African Republic, Mozambique, Uganda, and Kenya.

Islamic terror groups are also slaughtering Muslims for not being true believers in the terrorist group’s particular version of Islam.

Summary

Islamic terror groups are slaughtering and persecuting Christians and other infidels throughout Africa, the Middle East, and Pakistan. Yet the UN, mass media, and progressive governments ignore the ongoing Christian genocide.

The New York Times had labeled Boko Haram as not a problem and as peaceful. The Times continues its 90-year tradition of being wrong on significant issues. It ignored Stalin’s starvation policies in Ukraine, lauded Fidel Castro, excuses Islamic atrocities, and takes an anti-Israel position on the Gaza War. The Times also fostered the “1619 Project,” which claimed that the U.S. was founded on slavery in 1619 rather than the Pilgrims’ landing in 1620, or the Declaration of Independence in 1776, which states that “all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights…”

Instead of focusing on Christian genocide worldwide, anti-Semitic progressive governments and media focus on the Gaza war, which Hamas initiated with Gazan public support. The war would end now if Hamas surrendered and gave up the hostages. It is a war crime to take civilians as hostages.

President Obama explained away Muslim atrocities in terms of Marxist economic grievances and blamed the Christian Nigerian president for being too aggressive against Boko Haram terrorists. Obama was also upset at President Goodluck for not supporting his two-state Palestinian solution in the UN. As a result, Obama tilted the U.S. government in the 2015 election in favor of Muslim and former Nigerian dictator Buhari, who would be amenable to the two-state solution. Obama made a video for Nigerian viewers that was empathetic toward Buhari and placed an arms embargo on Nigeria while Jonathan was the president. Buhari won the election.

In 2020, the Trump administration listed Nigeria as a country of particular concern on religious freedom. The Biden administration de-listed the “concern.”

Action

1. Recognize that Islamic jihad’s goal is to dominate the world.
2. Support governments and mercenary armies that oppose jihad.
3. Support Israel in its fight for survival.
4. Develop policies that increase security for Christian communities worldwide.

Laurence F. Sanford is a senior analyst at the American Security Council Foundation.