Nigerian Military consultant addresses the Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo’s church, providing safety. (Screenshot from YouTube)
ABUJA, Nigeria (Christian Every day Worldwide–Morning Star Information) – A pastor in Nigeria is going through loss of life threats for talking out on Islamic extremist assaults on Christians and calling for defense towards “genocide.”
The Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo, primarily based in Plateau state as regional chairman of the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) in Barkin Ladi, advised reporters in Jos on Oct. 24 that Islamic extremists have marked him for assassination for calling on the Nigerian and U.S. governments to assist defend Christians towards genocide.
“My life is in grave hazard. Whilst I communicate, I’m looking out for assaults,” he reportedly mentioned. “I not sleep with my eyes closed. I’ve been attacked earlier than however escaped.”
The statements adopted an Oct. 15 video of Pastor Dachomo standing in a mass grave with the our bodies of no less than 12 slain church members criticizing the Nigerian authorities for denying genocide towards Christians and looking for assist from the U.S. administration, the U.S. Senate and the United Nations. The our bodies within the mass grave had been reportedly these of Christians killed by suspected Fulani herdsmen in Rachas village, Heipang District, and Rawuru village in Fan District.
“The Nigerian authorities retains denying that there’s no genocide towards Christians in Nigeria, however have a look at the corpses that had been killed at present,” Dachomo mentioned. “I’m calling on President Trump of America to please save our lives in Nigeria. Simply as he intervened within the battle between Israel and Hamas, I’m calling on his consideration to Nigeria. Christians are being massacred. They declare Muslims too are being killed, however the query is that they’re being killed by whom? By Muslims in fact!”
Pastor Dachomo mentioned in his Oct. 24 statements that the video and his assertions of genocide have led to the threats on his life. He mentioned army officers have additionally threatened him for asserting that they declined to answer experiences of impending assaults on communities in Barkin Ladi.
“Even the Nigerian Military issued a press launch towards me, accusing me of inciting folks,” Pastor Dachomo mentioned, in accordance with the The Every day Submit. “However they’re those inciting the Muslims towards us by refusing to make arrests. That is what we face, and now we have now resorted to self-defense; in any other case, the title of Jesus is not going to be talked about once more in our land.”
Saying he has acquired threats by means of telephone calls, messages and on social media, Pastor Dachomo mentioned he made the video additionally for future generations to see how Christians had been terrorized and persecuted as a part of a genocide.
A Nigerian Military consultant not too long ago appeared in Pastor Dachomo’s church and pledged to guard him, and U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to make use of army power towards Islamic terrorists in Nigeria. Analysts doubt such intervention is probably going quickly, and a few imagine it will play into the fingers of Islamic extremists looking for to destabilize the nation by means of all-out conflict.
Pastor Dachomo continues to face threats, together with an unconfirmed report of Islamic extremists vowing on Nov. 7 to kill him inside seven days. The pastor has launched a video wherein he mentioned his martyrdom would assist develop Christ’s kingdom.
“I already advised my household, my [church] members that in the event that they [terrorists] kidnap me, no one ought to contribute one kobo [a cent, for ransom],” Pastor Dachomo mentioned. “My grave will communicate, my blood will elevate conflict that can result in Christian liberation.”
Genocide Case
Christian leaders in northeast Nigeria not too long ago chronicled anti-Christian violence within the Gwoza space of Borno state in response to a declare by an space Muslim senator that no genocide is being dedicated towards Christians within the state.
In a press release aired on nationwide Channels TV, the leaders listed a collection of focused assaults and killings by Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and Boko Haram in addition to authorities insurance policies which have marginalized Christians in Borno state.
“Gwoza as soon as had a thriving Christian presence. Earlier than the insurgency [began in 2009], there have been greater than 176 massive church buildings throughout the native authorities. Right now, 148 of these church buildings had been burnt and lie in ruins,” acknowledged the Rev. Filibus Goma, former president of the Church of the Brethren (EYN) and chairman of the Board of Trustees of Gwoza Christian Neighborhood Affiliation (GCCA), together with the Rev. Ayuba John Bassa, nationwide coordinator of the affiliation, in a press release entitled, “The Unstated Genocide: GCCA Account on Christian Persecution in Gwoza, Borno State.”
“Christian communities have been denied land for locations of worship; mosques are constructed freely. Earlier than Boko Haram, civil service illustration in Gwoza was roughly 5 p.c Christian to 95 p.c Muslim regardless of an nearly equal inhabitants. Muslims have dominated political places of work and conventional titles as a result of sincere, free elections in Gwoza have successfully by no means taken place.”
Christian Non secular Information is not taught in authorities faculties throughout their native authorities, they famous.
The human price of Islamist assaults is staggering, they reported.
“Right now, about 107,000 Gwoza Christians are scattered in 27 internally displaced individuals camps throughout seven Nigerian states and within the Minawao refugee camp in Cameroon,” they acknowledged. “One other 50,000 are squatting with kin in cities and cities throughout Nigeria.”
Many Christians have lived as Internally Displaced Individuals (IDPs) or refugees for greater than a decade with little or no authorities help and no sensible prospect of returning house, they reported.
“This sample – destruction of church buildings, elimination of Christian households, and official silence or inaction – elevate an unavoidable query: Is there a scientific try to erase Christians and their heritage from Gwoza?” they acknowledged. “Reconstruction has been extremely uneven. A whole lot of Muslim properties have been rebuilt and 1000’s rehabilitated on their authentic land, whereas just about no Christian properties have been restored. Of the 1000’s of resettlement homes constructed, we all know of solely three beneficiaries who’re Christian.”
To those that dismiss or decrease these crimes, they posed the query: “If Christians are accused of being perpetrators, who’re the suspects? Do attackers name on the title of Jesus whereas killing?”
In Gwoza, Christians have by no means waged assaults on Muslims; church buildings had been being destroyed even earlier than the insurgency consolidated, they acknowledged.
“These aren’t remoted incidents however a part of a broader, violent sample that have to be acknowledged and investigated,” they acknowledged. “We plead for reality, accountability and motion.”
Nigeria remained among the many most harmful locations on earth for Christians, in accordance with Open Doorways’ 2025 World Watch Listing of the international locations the place it’s most tough to be a Christian. Of the 4,476 Christians killed for his or her religion worldwide in the course of the reporting interval, 3,100 (69 p.c) had been in Nigeria, in accordance with the WWL.
“The measure of anti-Christian violence within the nation is already on the most doable below World Watch Listing methodology,” the report acknowledged.
Christian leaders in Nigeria have mentioned they imagine herdsmen assaults on Christian communities in Nigeria’s Center Belt are impressed by their want to forcefully take over Christians’ lands and impose Islam as desertification has made it tough for them to maintain their herds.
Within the nation’s North-Central zone, the place Christians are extra frequent than they’re within the North-East and North-West, Islamic extremist Fulani militia assault farming communities, killing many a whole bunch, Christians above all, in accordance with the report. Jihadist teams resembling Boko Haram and the splinter group Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), amongst others, are additionally lively within the nation’s northern states, the place federal authorities management is scant and Christians and their communities proceed to be the targets of raids, sexual violence, and roadblock killings, in accordance with the report. Abductions for ransom have elevated significantly in recent times.
The violence has unfold to southern states, and a brand new jihadist terror group, Lakurawa, has emerged within the northwest, armed with superior weaponry and a radical Islamist agenda, the WWL famous. Lakurawa is affiliated with the expansionist Al-Qaeda insurgency Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin, or JNIM, originating in Mali.
Numbering within the hundreds of thousands throughout Nigeria and the Sahel, predominantly Muslim Fulani comprise a whole bunch of clans of many alternative lineages who don’t maintain extremist views, however some Fulani do adhere to radical Islamist ideology, the UK’s All-Get together Parliamentary Group for Worldwide Freedom or Perception (APPG) famous in a 2020 report.
“They undertake a comparable technique to Boko Haram and ISWAP and show a transparent intent to focus on Christians and potent symbols of Christian id,” the APPG report states.
Nigeria ranked seventh on the 2025 WWL record of the 50 international locations the place it’s most tough to be a Christian.
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