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Nigeria: Church of Christ in Nations pastor and two sons killed by Islamist militants

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A Church of Christ in Nations pastor and his two sons were shot dead by Islamic militants in Plateau state, northern Nigeria at the weekend, AIT reports. Tens of thousands of Christians have been murdered by Islamic extremists in Nigeria since 2015.

Rev Musa Hyok and his sons were killed in the early hours of Sunday morning in the Ganawuri community of Riyom local Government area of Plateau, AIT reports. Fulani militants have been relentless in killing Christians for nearly a decade.

“Attacks by Islamic militant groups have increased consistently since 2015, but the government has failed to prevent the rise in violence, which affects all Nigerians, but particularly Christians,” the US Open Doors Christian advocacy group explains in a website statement.

“The violence is most pervasive in the north, where militant groups such as Boko Haram, ISWAP and Fulani militants inflict murder, physical injury, abduction and sexual violence on their victims. Christians are dispossessed of their land and their means of livelihood,” Open Doors attests. “Many live as internally displaced people or refugees.

Nigeria ranks 6th on the US Open Doors World Watch List 2023 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted. However, Nigeria was previously ranked number 1 in the world in 2021, and 2022 for the largest number of Christians murdered because of their faith: the US Commission on International Freedom of Religion recently described Nigeria as a “killing field for Christians.”