Gunmen attack church, kill 6, wound 10, in Gombe, Gombe State

Map of Nigeria showing Gombe State

On 5 January, unknown gunmen attacked a church, killing at least six worshippers and wounding 10 others, in Gombe, Gombe State.

Some sources say the victims were attending a night service at a local branch of the Deeper Life Bible church, a Pentecostal church with thousands of branches all over the country and abroad. The Pastor of the church, Johnson Jauro, said his wife was among those killed.

Jauro said: “The attackers started shooting sporadically. They shot through the window of the church, and many people were killed, including my wife. Many of my members who attended the church service were also injured”.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but some local people believe the gunmen must have been members of the militant Islamist group widely known as Boko Haram. The sect had claimed responsibility for the Christmas Day bombing of a Catholic church in Madalla near Abuja, which killed more than 40 people.

This latest attack comes only five days after 31 December 2011, when President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in 15 local government areas across five states, closing parts of Nigeria’s borders with Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Republic of Niger. Gombe was not listed among the high risk states and none of its local government areas was covered by the declared emergency.

Reacting to the declaration of emergency and especially the deployment of troops to the affected local government areas, a Boko Haram spokesman gave Christians and southerners a three-day deadline to leave the majority Muslim northern states of the country or face death. However, the police had asked citizens to ignore that ultimatum and carry on with their normal businesses.

Pastor, 3 others killed by suspected Islamist extremists in Maiduguri, Borno State

Pastor AYO ORITSEJAFOR, President, Christian Association of Nigeria

On 18 January, Michael Medugu, a District Pastor of the Deeper Life Bible Church and three other Christians were killed by persons suspected to be members of the extremist Muslim sect, Boko Haram, in Maiduguri, Borno State. The pastor had just returned from a leadership training meeting at his church, and was dispensing drugs to a customer at his pharmaceutical shop when the attackers struck at about 7.05 p.m. The killers fled immediately after the act.

The three persons killed with the pastor were identified as Obinna, Mr. James and Baba Joy, all his neighbours. He is survived by his wife and seven children.

This attack and other recent killings of Christians by the extremist sect around Maiduguri – along with the recurrent killings around Jos –  threaten to unravel the progress Nigeria had made in inter-faith relations over the last decade, driven partly by the Nigerian Inter-Religious Council (NIREC). In reaction to the most recent incident, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the umbrella organization of all Christians in the country, has urged Christians to employ whatever means they consider necessary to defend themselves when attacked by the extremists. CAN President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor (who is also a co-chair of NIREC) said people “believe the government has not demonstrated enough commitment to defend the citizens”.

Another Christian leader, Evangelist Uma Ukpai, President of the Uma Ukpai Evangelistic Organisation, said “there will be no end to the religious crisis in the North unless the Christians in the area take it upon themselves to defend their lives and property”.