With 234 million people, Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa.
Despite the potential that this gives it, it has become known for a far more infamous reason in recent years, becoming the epicentre of anti Christian violence in the world.
The modern state of Nigeria was created by the British in the 20th Century, bringing together a wide variety of tribes who only had the commonality of having been within the confines of British control. The country is roughly half Muslim/half Christian.
The scale of violence in Nigeria is mind boggling. The Open Doors 2025 Watch List reports 3,100 Christians killed during that reporting period, with 69% of all global faith related murders taking place there.
The majority of this violence takes place in Nigeria's North and Middle Belt. Boko Haram and ISWAP ate two of the main perpetrators, with both seeking to impose strict Sharia Law. In 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 276 mostly Christian Chibok girls.
Many of those who minimise, or even outright deny, the situation of Christians there, do so because of the tribal and agricultural aspects of the violence. Fulani herdsmen are in part motivated by taking land, but they disproportionately attack Christians and burn churches.
Some of the violence in Nigeria is on a par with persecution in the early church. Deborah Samuel was a 19 year old student, lynched for being Christian by a mob who recorded her killing and still celebrate it today. They walked free from court.
Fr. Isaac Achi was a faithful priest who survived many repeated attacks only to be burned alive when terrorists firebombed his church.
Seminarian Na'aman Danlami was a 25 year old Catholic student who was kidnapped and executed. He was set apart and killed by the kidnappers because he was a Christian.
Since the 1990s, 12 states in Northern Nigeria have enforced Sharia Law .This causes Christians to be persecuted and for converts to face the threat of death. The map is a mirror of areas where Christians are persecuted.
Leah Sharibu, a young woman kidnapped by ISWAP in 2018, remains in captivity because she refuses to convert to Islam.
The Nigerian government is at best useless at stopping these or at worst complicit. In 2022, President Muhammadu Buhari refused to call off a public event with his government only hours after the Pentecost Terror Attack and was pictured repeatedly laughing and grinning.
The tide is finally beginning to turn thanks to the work of organisations like ADF International, Open Doors and the tireless efforts of politicians such as Rep Riley Moore, who has devoted countless hours to trying to bring action to our brothers and sisters.
Rep Riley Moore has successfully lobbied President Donald Trump to designate Nigeria as a 'country of particular concern' meaning that extra resources can be used to help the Christians and to put pressure on the government.
'Our fellow citizens are being daily kidnapped, extorted, dehumanized, killed or forced to flee their ancestral homes' Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, President of the Nigeria Bishops Conference.
7,000 Christians this year, 35 a day.
Enough is enough