Christian Genocide: A Wholistic Perspective
By: Deji Yesufu
On November 5, 2024, I was in Port Harcourt helping with the planting of a seminary there, The Reformed Theological Seminary Foundation. The previous day, America had gone to the polls, and I was following the results closely as they trickled in. That morning, I woke up with a hymn in my mind: “Rejoice the Lord is King…” I interpreted it as Donald Trump winning the election, and within twenty-four hours of that moment, Trump was clearly in the lead. He was declared President-elect of the United States of America a few days later. I will still explain the relevance of Trump to an article on Christian Genocide in Nigeria later. But I wish to remind my readers that on one occasion, late President Buhari spoke about visiting Trump at the White House, during Trump’s first tenure, and the first thing Donald Trump told him was this: “I hear you are killing Christians in Nigeria.” Buhari said he was taken aback. He quickly gave a response and ensured that further discussions did not touch on that matter. Nigeria relies heavily on the United States of America to purchase weapons to fight terrorist activities in the country. Allegations of government links to the killing of Christians in Nigeria are the worst public relations this country needs in the international community. But what exactly is the real picture?
What is very clear is that since the inception of the Buhari administration, there has been a dramatic increase in the activities of militant herdsmen in Nigeria. These people destroy villages, they kidnap people for ransom, and they often carry out these activities mouthing Qur’anic verses. Some people have suggested that these elements were imported into Nigeria by politicians who were ready to destabilize the country if Goodluck Jonathan had refused to step down in 2015. Jonathan’s peaceful transition from one party to another was a record-breaking event that many Nigerians are only getting to appreciate today. The fact remains that that event might be the last time we will see a ruling party handing over power peacefully to another in Nigeria. The default mindset among many politicians in this country is to hold on to power at all costs. Jonathan refused this, and it averted a serious crisis in the country. The politicians who had invited these criminal herdsmen had no more need for them and then unleashed them on the nation. The Buhari administration, being Fulani himself, treated the matter with kid gloves. Now the Tinubu administration must deal with a problem that has been left to fester for eight long years.
The second undeniable picture of this Christian genocide matter is that many Muslims are dependent on the interpretation of the Quran on what their individual teachers tell them it says. There are many verses in the Quran that teach that Muslim adherents should fight the unbelievers (Quran 9.29,123; 47.4). There are other verses in the Quran that teach that Muslims should live in peace with the unbelievers (Quran 21.107, 4.36). Muslim groups simply obey what their teachers tell them. Boko Haram is the ideological framework of Muhammadu Yusuf, who was killed in 2009. Yusuf’s argument was that the Nigerian nation is founded on Christian ideas, and that as long as Muslims adhere to the constitution of this country, they are being unfaithful to the Quran. “Boko”, which means “Western”, is “Haram” or “forbidden”, meaning that everything that is the product of Western civilization must be disposed of by Muslims. What many non-Northerners do not realize is that outside government circles in many parts of the North, this is the default understanding of an average Northerner. There is an aversion to Western civilization, and that is why they would rather their children go to Quranic schools than to proper schools. The result is that the vast majority of the time, Muslims in the North live peacefully with their Christian neighbors. But from time to time, following incendiary remarks from some fiery Islamic preacher, Muslim youths in the North are incited to destroy churches and kill Christians in the process. In 1986, while I lived in Zaria, I witnessed the burning of churches and the killing of Christians. I remember very well, though I was just nine years old, that every church building in the whole of Zaria was set ablaze, including the ones inside the campus of Ahmadu Bello University. The only churches that were not torched were the ones found in military barracks. Many Christians were killed, and thousands were displaced, with a lot of southerners returning to their home states.
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Therefore, historically, and even following current events, there has been a systematic effort to eradicate Christians from Northern Nigeria. Those who have chosen to call it a genocide have employed the use of a word that is meant to draw attention to a very serious problem in those parts of the country. While, indeed, many Muslims have also been objects of attacks from militant Muslim groups, the overall focus of these attacks has been on Christians. In fact, there seems to be a commitment to ensure that churches are burnt down by these people. Nigerian security forces are handicapped in many ways in handling these crises. Sometimes, it is either they are totally outnumbered and unequipped. At other times, they are actually complicit in the matter by looking the away and allowing the mob to take over. But most times, security is simply not available to protect Christians. Many of the villages these herdsmen attack are situated far into the bushes, where security is almost non-existent. It is the reason why some people have suggested that Christian communities must begin to arm themselves with weapons to ward off potential attacks.
Now, the idea of a Christian genocide in Nigeria took on greater significance in recent times around the world because some Western commentators have been pointing out the hypocrisy of some people on the political left who claim that a genocide is going on in Gaza, while no one is talking about genocide in Nigeria. The Nigerian government has officially made known its opposition to Israel’s activities in Gaza, where the Israeli government is waging a war in retaliation for its citizens who were killed on October 7th, 2023, by Hamas, a radical Islamic group that is also the political leaders in the Gaza Strip. Those on the political right in the West are asking why everyone is crying against Israel, and shouting genocide against the Israelis, and no one is talking about the happenings in Nigeria? The Nigerian government swiftly denied that anyone is killing Christians in Nigeria. However, that cat had been let out of the bag a long time ago. I have mentioned how Trump confronted Buhari about those allegations. And there are many other reports by Americans who carry out missionary activities in Northern Nigeria, who give their government reports on happenings in Nigeria.
Here is where I think the song that came to my heart, about Jesus is King, is relevant to this whole discussion: one of Donald Trump’s men is a gentleman called Pete Hegseth. Hegseth is forty-five years old. He is the United States’ Secretary of War. In other words, the gentleman is the head of all American military – the Pentagon is right under him. Hegseth is a former soldier. On his arm, he has a tattoo that carries the Jerusalem cross that the Crusaders used to have on their banners as they marched to the East to fight Muslim conquerors of Jerusalem in the 11th century. Pete Hegseth’s mentality is steeped in history. He understands that the Crusades, which have unfortunately been painted negatively by modern historians, were Europeans’ efforts to militarily conquer Jerusalem, which at that time had been taken over by Muslim militant groups, and were killing Christians in droves. Hegseth’s overseeing of the American military today helped the Israelis to conquer Iran and Syria, while at the same time destroying many terrorist networks all around the Middle East. All these terrorists have one thing in common: they are fundamentalist Islamic groups intent on destroying other people’s religions and establishing their own. They are a bunch of intolerant groups of people who kill to establish their religion. If the prevailing religion in their space is Christianity, they will burn all churches and kill Christians until they subdue them. If the people around them are Jews, they will do the same thing. While moderate Muslim people believe in peace, these militant groups do not. And they are the ones at the root of the killings in Christian communities all over Northern Nigeria.
The Lord Jesus Christ is King because, for once, the United States of America has a government that will not treat militant Islam with kid gloves. Christians need to read their Bibles and understand Romans 13:1-4, and see that God has put the sword in the hands of kings to preserve the good and to punish evil. It is the church that defines what good is and describes what evil is. Then the legislative arms of government proffer laws, while the executive and the judiciary ensure that those laws are obeyed – all to preserve good and punish evil. The challenge of our world today is that the standard of good and evil is changing fast. With people who no longer know what a man is or what a woman is, how will they know the difference between good and evil? So that, when evil rears its head, and good governments seek to crush it, people begin to call such a government evil. How many people realize that the Middle East today has a population of about 5% Christians left? In 1920, 25% of the Middle East was still Christian. Do we realize the number of Christians who flee the Middle East daily so that they can live in countries where there is religious tolerance? Jesus is King, and he would enforce the governments of the nations even with the sword. The world has condemned Israel for so long, but very few people realize that the little Christian witness the Middle East enjoys today is because Israel has been fighting to preserve these people’s religious liberties. If militant Islam is given a foothold, it will grab a mile of land. There is killing of Christians in Nigeria, and it behooves the government of this country to show the international community that Christians are being protected.
As for you and me, we all must educate ourselves on history. We must know where we are all from. Then we must practice our faith in such a way as to commend it to our neighbors. Islam must understand that no one wins proselytes to their religion with the force of the sword anymore. Love your neighbour; be kind to people; help to solve people’s problems; heal their sick; teach their children; give them water to drink; and these people will return to ask you why you are doing all these. Then you can point them to your religion. Historically, this is how Christianity has won adherents to its side. Moderate Muslims will need to separate themselves from those who espouse a militant version of their religion. Or else, we will be forced to lump them all together.
Deji Yesufu is the pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church Ibadan. He is the author of HUMANITY. He can be reached at [email protected]
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