In northern Nigeria, Christians are enduring a brutal campaign of violence, discrimination, and religious persecution. Yet, remarkably, their numbers are growing. Against the backdrop of Islamic extremism, widespread insecurity, and systemic marginalization under Sharia law, the Christian faith is not just surviving; it is expanding.
Several states in the region enforce Islamic legal codes, and militant groups such as Boko Haram and ISWAP (Islamic State’s West Africa Province) operate with devastating impact. Churches are frequently burned, Christians are kidnapped or killed, and entire communities are displaced. Inspite of this reality, Christian leaders report a surge in conversions and religious vocations.
Bishop Habila Daboh of Zaria, Kaduna State, recounted how the North once enjoyed peaceful coexistence between Muslims and Christians. “We shared food during celebrations, played football together, bathed in the same streams,” he said.
But that harmony was shattered with the rise of fundamentalist Islamic ideologies, imported and spread by extremist preachers and terror groups. “Now, they believe that if you’re not a Muslim, you don’t deserve to live. Life became hell for Christians.”
The bishop makes clear that this is not isolated violence but a targeted campaign to erase Christianity from the region. “They see our growth as a threat. They believe Christians have no right to be in this area, and they view our increasing numbers as a danger to the Muslim community.”
He cited an incident that occurred in 2020 when four Catholic seminarians were abducted. One of them, Michael Nnadi, was murdered by the kidnappers. People thought that other seminarians would quit following this incident. Rather, the reverse happened.
“We expected young men to run away from the priesthood. Instead, more came. They said they wanted to preach the Gospel of peace and love. They want to tell the world that Jesus is a man of peace,” Daboh said.
Christianity is not just growing in numbers but in defiance. It is a movement rooted in resilience. In communities where churches have been bombed or razed, worship still takes place, sometimes in secret, sometimes in open defiance. Believers are risking their lives simply to gather and pray.
Meanwhile, Christians continue to face systemic discrimination under Sharia-influenced governance. In many northern states, they are treated as second-class citizens. Access to public jobs, land, and education is often restricted. In rural areas, Christian girls are abducted and forcibly converted.
One of the most horrifying examples of this occurred in April 2014, when Boko Haram militants stormed a girls’ secondary school in Chibok, a predominantly Christian town in Borno State, and abducted over 270 schoolgirls. Police and local authorities rarely intervene.
The persecution has not relented. Just recently, on April 13th, armed Fulani extremists attacked the Christian village of Zikke in Plateau State, killing at least 56 people in a Palm Sunday massacre. Over 100 homes were destroyed, and the entire village was displaced.
Rev. Hezekiah Mukan led a mass burial for 51 victims the following day. Pastor Ishaku Mathew Kure, who lost ten members of his congregation, called the killings “coordinated” and condemned the government’s failure to act. Local witnesses alleged that Christian residents had been disarmed while attackers remained untouched.
In the week surrounding the Zikke attack, nearly 200 Christians were slaughtered across the country. Just days earlier, a coordinated assault on five villages south of Jos claimed another 50 lives. Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto lambasted the government for its inaction. “The blood of Nigerians flows like streams,” he said, accusing the authorities of having taken the “tranquilising drug of complacency.”
Bishop Kukah also warned of a renewed threat from Boko Haram and other jihadist groups. “In other parts of the country, the bandits continue their dances of evil, capturing, torturing, and inflicting the harshest form of inhuman treatment on our people,” he said.
Between December 2023 and February 2024 alone, more than 1,300 people were killed in Plateau State. Rights group Intersociety estimates that over 20,000 Christians have been murdered by Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria’s southeast over the past decade.
In the face of all this, Bishop Daboh continues to emphasize the importance of education as a means of resistance. While Boko Haram wages war against Western education, Christian communities embrace it. “My people are hungry to learn,” he says. “Education sets them free. It gives them a future. It gives them the ability to know the truth.”
Despite the danger, despite the poverty, and despite the killings, he insists that Nigerian Christians remain joyful. “They are a happy people, because they have Christ.
“They have lost homes and family, but they haven’t lost their faith.”
