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Nigeria

• Kidnapped Girl Sends Message Home
  
  Photo: Morning Star News

  Leah Sharibu, a 15-year-old Nigerian girl held hostage by a faction of Boko Haram, managed to send a message to her mother when her friends were released. The message read:

  "My mother, you should not be disturbed. I know it is not easy missing me, but I want to assure you that I am fine where I am.... I am confident that one day I shall see your face again. If not here, then there at the bosom of our Lord Jesus Christ."
  

• Captive Schoolgirl Refuses to Recant Faith
  
  Photo: Morning Star News

  News that over 100 kidnapped schoolgirls were released by a Boko Haram faction on March 21st brought joy to concerned parents, a nation and people around the world. The girls had been kidnapped from their school in Dapchi on February 19th (see this page) and taken to an unknown location. According to those released, five of the girls died earlier due to the stress and trauma of the attack. One girl, Leah Sharibu, remains in captivity for one simple reason: she refuses to convert to Islam.

• More Schoolgirls Kidnapped by Boko Haram
  
  Wikimedia Commons (cc)

  Memories of the 2014 Chibok kidnapping flooded the minds of Nigerians as they heard the news of the most recent attack on a girls' school in Dapchi, Yobe State, on February 19th. When the Boko Haram militants left the scene, 110 schoolgirls -- between the ages of 11 and 19 -- disappeared with them.

  Authorities initially tried to deny that it was a kidnapping, suggesting the girls may have simply fled. However, it soon became clear that they had been taken by the attackers to an unknown location. Nigerian authorities are actively searching for the girls.

• Militants Ravage Village Leaving Eight Dead
  
  A victim of the attacks, James Nengwe
  Photo: Morning Star News

  Various attacks in central Nigeria late January resulted in the death of at least eight Christians and the destruction of dozens of homes. Fulani herdsmen, accompanied by Islamist militants, raided the village of Zanwra (near the city of Jos in Plateau state) over a number of days. Many of those who survived lost everything they owned.

• Increase of Violence in Plateau State
  
  A previous "Christmas Blessing" project brought much joy to persecuted Christians and their families in Nigeria.

  After a period of relative calm, violence has resumed in Plateau state -- resulting in the deadliest sectarian violence in Nigeria's recent history. The fatalities were perpetrated by Fulani herdsmen who have been primarily targeting Christian farmers in the country's Middle Belt. In fact, many experts now report that the attacks of this militant Muslim group have killed more people than those committed previously by the notorious Boko Haram terrorists.

• Kidnapped Optician Killed in Southern Region
  
  Missionary Ian Squire who diligently
  served in Nigeria's Delta state.
  Photo Credit: World Watch Monitor

  On October 13th, a British optician who had been kidnapped was killed shortly after singing the hymn, Amazing Grace, to lift the spirits of his fellow hostages. Ian Squire, 57, was killed instantly by shots fired by one of the four gang members who abducted him and three other Christian aid workers from their clinic in the country's lawless Delta state. The gunmen refused to give any information as to why the shots were fired.

• Plateau State Attacks Include Fatal Shooting
  
  Pray for the safety of the country's innocent citizens who are vulnerable to militant attacks.

  On October 24th, a Christian woman and her two children were killed in north-central Nigeria. Armed Muslim Fulani herdsmen ambushed and shot to death Rebecca Daniel Choji, her 16-year-old daughter Suzanna, and 29-year-old son Joel. Prior to the shooting, which took place in Jol village (located within the Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State), the attacked family members had been on their way to a health facility in Vwak village.

• Kidnapped Pastor Released After Captivity

  
  Rev. Jen Tivkaa Moses after
  his release by kidnappers.
  Photo: Morningstar News

  Christian leaders have announced that a previously abducted pastor was freed on August 9th, five days after being kidnapped. Rev. Jen Tivkaa Moses had been seized on Friday, August 4th by young Fulani herdsmen while travelling along the highway from Jos to Abuja in Plateau state. Thankfully, he was brought safely back to Jos at about 1 o'clock in the morning the following Wednesday. While it is unclear whether a full ransom had been granted to the kidnappers, who demanded one million naira (approximately $3,400 CAD), a payment was made to secure his release.

• Release of More Chibok Schoolgirls

  
  Since the release of the 21 Chibok
  students last October (pictured above),
  82 more girls have recently been freed.
  Photo: World Watch Monitor

  Boko Haram released a video on May 12th claiming to show a few Chibok schoolgirls refusing to be part of the recent "swap deal" in which 82 of the girls had been rescued by the Nigerian government in exchange for five terrorist commanders.

  In the three-minute video, a girl dressed in a veil and holding a gun introduces herself as Maida Yakubu, one of 276 schoolgirls kidnapped by the Boko Haram terrorist group in April 2014. During the taping, three other girls in veils sat behind her. When asked by a man in the background why she doesn't want to go back home to her parents, she replies: "The reason is that they live in the town of unbelief. We want them to accept Islam."

• Three Years of Agony for Chibok Parents

  
  Some of the parents of Chibok's kidnapped girls.
  Photo: World Watch Monitor

  For the families of the Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped from their dormitories three years ago, grief and despair have been compounded by fear, as the perpetrators of their agony continue to terrorize their town and carry out further abductions with impunity. A previous report on the school kidnapping is available here.

  Since Boko Haram jihadists abducted 276 girls from their secondary school in the town of Chibok, in the northeastern state of Borno, 23 parents have died of heart disease while many continue to battle stress-related conditions. While 81 of the girls have since escaped or been rescued, it is believed that their captors -- who initially boasted that they would sell them as slaves -- have decided to hold on to their victims after realizing how valuable their high profile has made them. As a result, more than two-thirds of the girls are still missing.

  The release of 21 girls last October briefly gave hope to the Chibok families and other Christians across northeast Nigeria who have been terrorized by Boko Haram for almost eight years. However, the girls have been detained for questioning and security purposes since their release and allowed to see their parents only a handful of times. To review a report on the release of these girls from terrorist captivity, click here.

  Residents of Chibok are still fearful because Boko Haram has recently attacked nearby towns, and scores of families have been displaced to Mbalala, less than five kilometres from Chibok. There is now a heavy military presence in Chibok, and three of the town's 13 schools have only partially reopened. Parents are terrified of sending their children back to school in case Boko Haram strikes again, and church activities are carried out under heavy security.

  A report by UNICEF has recently indicated a sharp rise in the number of children forced to carry out suicide bomb attacks -- from 30 in 2016 for the entire year to 27 in just the first three months of 2017. The agency added that Boko Haram's abduction of children is "systematic" and "fuelling" its insurgency in the Lake Chad region. The kidnapped girls are typically forced into early marriage and sexual slavery.

  Ask the Lord to minister in special ways to the victimized children and their distraught families, and all in Nigeria who've experienced great pain and loss due to Boko Haram's acts of terrorism. May there be many more victims released from captivity and joyfully reunited with their long-suffering families. Pray that the country's governing officials will clearly sense God's leading as they work together with renewed strength and unity in their efforts to liberate the captives, secure communities, and bring the perpetrators to justice. In the midst of so much suffering, we trust that the Lord will fulfil His promise to somehow use what was intended for evil and turn it around for greater good (Genesis 50:20).