Center for Global Justice Intern – Jaclyn Walliser

There is a terrorist group in Nigeria who calls themselves the Boko Haram. They are an extremist Islamic group who has unfortunately grown stronger and stronger over the years and their tactics and global reach have extended greatly in recent years. A research group, supported by the government, found that in 2012 the group ranked second for the most amount of terrorist attacks for the year only behind the Taliban. In 2012 alone, they killed at least 1267 people and injured over 600 more. They have links to and support from Al-Qaeda.

This is all very troubling but even more troubling is the situation in which many northern Nigerian Christians and other minorities are currently facing largely due to this powerful group. They have begun a type of religious cleansing in the northern states of Nigeria. Christians, and their children, are the target for persecution in their communities, in their homes, and in their schools.

I’ve learned a lot about this situation over the past few weeks and have often thought to myself something that you may be thinking now, “Why have I never heard about this before?” Since I had never heard about it I wanted to raise awareness about this group and about the Christian’s and other minorities in Nigeria that are facing hardship every day. It would be convenient to ignore the issue and I think that’s largely why I and many others have never heard about this because it is convenient to ignore. But, I believe that we are called to help the oppressed and our brothers and sisters in Christ. I thank God that there are NGO’s like the Jubilee Campaign that are a voice for these people and hope that in the future others will be added that will advocate on their behalf.