A former governor of Nigeria’s central bank has warned that the country has never been as “dangerously divided along ethnic and religious lines” since the Biafran civil war fifty years ago.
Alhaji Sanusi Muhammed, a former Emir of Kano, was speaking at a leadership colloquium in Lagos. He said that following recent presidential elections, the “integrity of public institutions” had been put in question and added:
“The people now have suspicions about policies, policing, judiciary and the election umpire.”
A transition is underway in the country, which has a population of both Christians and Muslims, with Bola Tinubu taking over next month. The third-placed presidential candidate, Peter Obi, a Christian has been reported as saying he may be forced to leave the country, after what he called "blatantly stolen" elections.
Speaking to Premier Christian News, Baroness Caroline Cox of the humanitarian aid agency, HART, commented that “the killings of Christians goes on unabated”.
“In just six months of last year over 5000 Christians were killed”, she explained. “Very often, I open emails and there are reports of another attack on another village. So, thousands killed in Nigeria’s middle belt.
“There are over a million a million and a half displaced people, because their village has been attacked and everything's been burned. They're just living as displaced people. And the atrocities are horrendous.”
This week saw the launch of a campaign by persecution charity, Out of these Ashes, which focuses on the ongoing persecution of Christians in Nigeria. The organisation says the three-month long campaign seeks to highlight the suffering of Christians and to call believers in the UK to concerted prayer on their behalf.
“Please pray”, continued Baroness Cox, “it always humbles me, to meet the victims of the attacks, and they're suffering so much. We say ‘So what's your priority?’ They will say ‘prayer’. “
“It makes me humble, because I'd be asking for food or clothes. But prayer is their priority. So please, Premier Christian News supporters, people pray for the people of Nigeria.”