Nigeria has become a blazing hellscape for Christians
“[If] you’re a Christian farmer, you’re a Christian villager … the Islamic terrorists [might] come in with guns, with machetes,” Jeff King, president of International Christian Concern
Nigeria has quickly become one of the most deadly nations for Christians who are routinely “terrorized with devastating impunity” by radical Muslims and their demoniacal ilk.
Jeff King, president of International Christian Concern, holds little back when describing the lethal state of affairs for Christians inside the African nation.
“[Extremists] shoot, and they maim, and they slice, and they drive you off the land — and if you decide to come back, they’ll attack you again,” he recently explained.
Mr. King made his sobering comments to me while discussing his organization’s new “2025 Global Persecution Index” — a report that exposes the rising horrors of persecution across the globe.
While the intercontinental state of affairs is plagued by horrors, Nigeria, in particular, is an exemplar of what can happen when extremism is permitted to run amok, with murder and mayhem being tolerated and even heralded by public officials and government bodies.
Problems are most pronounced in northern Nigeria, where Islam holds a majority foothold.
“[If] you’re a Christian farmer, you’re a Christian villager … the Fulani terrorists, the Islamic terrorists [might] come in with guns, with machetes,” Mr. King said. “Three-plus million Christian farmers have been driven off their lands.”
Other persecution watchdogs have issued similar warnings. Global Christian Relief’s 2025 “Red List,” another report that explores the dire extent of anti-Christian sentiment, ranks the worst nations when it comes to the murder of Bible believers.
Unsurprisingly, Nigeria topped the list as the worst nation — replacing North Korea — finding nearly 10,000 Nigerian Christians were killed in recent years.
“Africa remains the deadliest region for Christians, with Nigeria consistently being the most dangerous country for followers of Jesus,” the report warns. “Between November 2022 and November 2024, nearly 10,000 Christians were killed, primarily by Islamic extremist groups such as Boko Haram, Armed Fulani Herdsmen and the Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP).”
Another estimate based on data from the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa puts the total number of those slain at more than 16,000 when tabulating total deaths between 2019 and 2023.
One of the most difficult issues when it comes to tracking persecution is humanizing the issue — helping people see beyond the numbers to recognize that these shocking statistics represent real men, women and children — people whose vibrant lives have been cut short by iniquity and depravity.
Disturbingly, Nigeria’s persecution issues remain wildly underreported in the media, though some of the more shocking cases have begun to make headlines.
One such story about a 25-year-old college student named Deborah Emmanuel Yakubu broke through the news cycle nearly three years ago. In an absolutely mind-numbing horror, Ms. Yakubu was stoned to death in May 2022 before her body was set on fire by radical militants.
“Some young Muslim students went to her hostel and grabbed her and beat her to death and then burned her body,” Joel Veldkamp, head of international communications for Christian Solidarity International, told me at the time. “We have the video of the body being burned, and you can see the faces of the people who did it, and you can hear them shouting ’Allahu Akbar.’”
Yakubu’s offense? She pledged allegiance to Jesus, with her captors so confident their evil would be tolerated — so certain of their impunity — they committed their acts while being filmed.
The crime was so evil, so otherworldly, that people across the globe were shocked into acknowledging that Nigeria has become a blazing hellscape for Christians — a nation where an embrace of the Bible can spark the end of one’s earthly existence.
Tragically, that story is hardly an anomaly, as scores of anecdotes weave a tapestry of terror.
Just one year after the college student’s slaying, Usman Buda, a husband and father of six children, was also stoned to death in June 2023 by an angry mob. Accused of blasphemy — that is, offending religious sensibilities — his slaughter made international headlines.
Adding to the incomprehensible brutality was the fact that children were “encouraged to throw rocks” as Mr. Buda was beaten to death, the Guardian reported.
Such attacks persist with little help from officials and leaders, as it seems there’s no fear of punishment among perpetrators. Just before Christmas, more than a dozen Christians were slain by armed men, with a 1-year-old baby butchered during the incursion. Then, on Christmas Day, dozens more were murdered by Fulani herdsmen.
Pastors and faith leaders such as Rev. Manasseh Ibrahim, who was slain in April 2024, are also frequently targeted. In a separate incident, Oluwakemi Moses, the wife of a Nigerian preacher, was killed by terrorists in November 2023 — and the list goes on.
Again, these stories barely scratch the surface of what’s unfolding, but they show the dire nature of the situation. And it’s a relatively bizarre dynamic considering a reported 49% of the population in Nigeria is Christian.
With the faith so widely accepted and practiced, it’s inconceivable that so many Christians are losing their lives and livelihoods — all while Nigerian officials do little to thwart the murderous mayhem.
The only solution is for the world to get more vocal. Amnesty International Nigeria, among other groups, has sounded the alarm on an “uptick in blasphemy killings and accusations,” releasing a statement on social media after Mr. Buda’s death.
“By failing again and again to ensure that those suspected of responsibility of killing(s) over alleged blasphemy are brought to justice, the Nigerian authorities continue to create a permissive environment for brutality,” the organization charged in a 2023 post on X.
It’s far past time for the United States and the West to put excessive pressure on Nigeria, using all political tools necessary to stop the nation from enabling and turning a blind eye to such horrors.
The blood of innocent Christians is crying out from this basin of brutality, begging us to pray for those in duress — and to implore our leaders to take decisive action.
• Billy Hallowell is a digital TV host and interviewer for Faithwire and CBN News and the co-host of CBN’s “Quick Start Podcast.” Mr. Hallowell is the author of four books.