The umbrella body of the Nigerian Muslim community, Jama’atuNasril Islam, (JNI), has faulted Nigeria’s inclusion among the top 10 countries in the world where Christians are persecuted because of their faith.
The 2021 annual report of a United States-based Christian persecution monitoring group, Open Doors, ranked Nigeria as Number nine on a World Watch List comprising 50 countries where it is ‘most dangerous’ to be a Christian.
The report said more than 2,200 out of 4,761 Christians killed for reasons relating to their faith around the world in 2020 were murdered in Nigeria.
While the JNI objected to the report, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) endorsed the findings made by the US organisation.
CAN said the report was an ‘obvious’ fact that cannot be disputed.
Representatives of the JNI and CAN reacted to the development in separate interviews with reporters.
- Nigeria ranked alongside North Korea, Afghanistan, others as top 10 Christian-persecuting countries
Open Doors, which had monitored Christian persecution worldwide since 1992, ranked North Korea as Number 1 in the watch list. North Korea has consistently ranked Number 1 for 20 years, since Open Doors started publishing the watch list in 2002.
Communist and post-communist oppression were cited as the sources of persecution for Christians in North Korea.
Other countries in the top 10, listed in order of ranking, are Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Pakistan, Eritrea, Yemen, Iran, Nigeria and India.
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