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| Rev. Lawan Andimi. |
A pastor who made headlines this month after praising God in a ransom video has been executed by alleged Boko Haram militants in Nigeria.
International human
rights activists have condemned the killing of Rev. Lawan Andimi, the chairman
of the Christian Association of Nigeria’s chapter in the Michika Local
Government Area of Adamawa State.
Andimi was declared
missing on Jan. 3 following a raid by the Islamic extremist group in Michika.
Video posted online appeared to show Andimi being forced into a vehicle by his
captors.
Days later,
Andimi was seen in a video released by his captors calling on
fellow Christian leaders and state government officials to secure his
release.
Despite the situation,
Andimi said in the video that he was not discouraged because “all conditions
that one finds himself is in the hand of God.”
“By the grace of God,
I will be together with my wife and my children and all my colleagues,” he
said. “If the opportunity has not been granted, maybe it is the will of God.”
On Monday, local sources
disclosed to ministry partners in the United States that Andimi was
murdered.
A source told the
U.S.-based nongovernmental organization Save the Persecuted Christians that
Andimi’s family was notified about the pastor’s death by the CAN office in the Adamawa
state on Monday.
“They have slaughtered
him in Sambisa forest,” a source told Save the Persecuted Christians, according
to the nonprofit's Executive Director Dede Laugesen. “They murdered him because
he refused to renounce his faith. And because they couldn’t raise the money for
his ransom.”
The local source,
whose name could not be revealed for security reasons, told Save the Persecuted
Christians that Andimi’s captors demanded 2 million euros in exchange for his
release. However, the underserved church community was only able to raise 2
million nairas (4,969.88 euros).
Nigerian investigative
journalist Ahmed Salkida reported in a tweet that
Andimi was beheaded Monday afternoon. Salkida wrote that he obtained a video of
the execution and informed authorities.
CAN spokesperson Bayo
Oladeji told the International Centre for Investigative Reporting
that the interdenominational umbrella organization plans to release an official
statement on Andimi’s execution.
“It is pathetic and
painful to learn that such a gentleman could be killed like a ram,” Oladeji was
quoted as saying.
Andimi was not the
only Christian leader reported to have been killed in Adamawa state this
week.
Pastor Denis Bagauri
of the Lutheran Church of Nigeria, a well-known political advocate for
Christians, was reportedly killed by unknown gunmen in his home in the
Nassarawo Jereng of Mayobelwa Local Government Area of Adamawa State Sunday
night, according to The Daily Post.
Additionally, the
Islamic State recently published a new video purporting to show a child soldier
killing a Christian man in Nigeria. The child is seen declaring that “[w]e
won't stop until we take revenge for all the blood that was spilled.”
That video follows
another video released by the extremist faction last month purporting
to show the killing of 11 Christian aid workers in Nigeria.
In January, CAN accused President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government
of not doing enough to ensure that Christians abducted by Boko Haram and
Islamic State's West Africa Province are freed.
The pastors’ killings
come as kidnappings and violence carried about by both Boko Haram and ISWAP
have increased in recent months.
“The resurgence of
both factions of Boko Haram is emblematic of the increasing insecurity in the
country, and Nigerian civilians are bearing the brunt of it,” Christian
Solidarity Worldwide Chief Executive Merwyn Thomas said in a statement. “In
view of the multiplicity of armed nonstate actors currently operating in
Nigeria, CSW reiterates that rising levels of insecurity throughout the country
constitute a threat to sustainable investment and development.”
Faith McDonnell, the
director of religious liberty programs at the U.S.-based think tank Institute
on Religion & Democracy, responded to the news of Andimi’s murder by
condemning the Nigerian government’s inaction.
“It is obvious that
the president of Nigeria will do nothing to stop this without pressure from the
West,” she wrote on Facebook. “We need President Trump to appoint a Special
Envoy for Nigeria and the region soon.”
Although fewer
Christians were killed in Nigeria in 2019, leading nonprofit persecution
watchdog group Open Doors USA notes that the decline is due to a change in tactic by
Boko Haram to focus more on kidnappings.
“While ISIS may be in
retreat in the Middle East, it has found a new and powerful ally in Boko Haram,
which is entrenched in northern Nigeria,” said Stephen Enada, the director of
the International Committee on Nigeria and a co-partner with Save the
Persecuted Christians. “Like Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria before it, an unstable
Nigeria is becoming the new breeding ground for Islamist terrorists.”
Enada explained that
the ripple effect of the extremist violence in Nigeria “may never be captured
in simple statistics.”
“That’s why action is
so critical. That, and inaction against these terrorist groups only embolden
them to take more extreme actions,” Enada said in a statement. “Therefore,
[the] appointment of special envoy to Nigeria and Lake Chad region by the
president of the United States will send a signal to terrorists and their
enablers that their time is up just like it was in the Middle East region.”
Nigeria ranks as the
12th-worst country in the world when it comes to Christian persecution,
according to Open Doors USA’s 2020 World Watch List.
Source:
https://www.christianpost.com/news/nigerian-pastor-who-praised-god-in-ransom-video-beheaded-after-refusing-to-deny-christ.html?uid=*|UNIQID|*
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