CV NEWS FEED // A Nigerian Catholic priest addressed the Biden administration last month during his speech at an international religious freedom event, calling on the United States government to investigate Nigeria for its persecution of Christians.
During his speech at the fourth annual International Religious Freedom Summit, Fr. Ambrose Ekereku called attention to the “systematic jihad, genocide, and ethnic cleansing,” being carried out against Nigerian Christians by the Muslim ethnic group known as the Fulani.
The situation in Nigeria “is not new,” Ekereku said. “What is going on is not new.”
As CatholicVote previously reported, the historic tension between Christian farmers and the Muslim-majority ethnic group has become exacerbated in recent years, with Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) International recording at least 119 attacks against Christians in 2023 alone.
Most recent jihadist attacks against Christians living in Nigeria’s Plateau State over Christmas left more than 150 dead.
Ekereky also responded to claims that increased aggression between the two groups are due to climate change, saying: “It is not. It is jihad that is going on. It is not farmer-herder clashes.”
Ekereku noted that the Fulani came to Nigeria from Senegal and Mauritania in the 19th century to carry out “Islamic conquests,” in the region. Though the Fulani were interrupted by British colonial efforts from 1900 to 1960, “the Fulani claimed that the British handed Nigeria back to them.”
“Now they have continued that jihad,” the priest said. “Nigerians are being kidnapped, raped, maimed and butchered by these terrorists […] it’s not going to stop unless the international community comes to our aid.”
“If I said what I’m saying now in the pulpit in Nigeria, they would come for me the next moment,” he continued. “They would kill me.”
“Nigeria,” Ekereku said, “should be held accountable because there are those in government and the security services who are complicit in the violence.” He concluded by stating that the U.S. government and international community should “take action and stop these killings.”
