The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) has called on Christians worldwide to remember the victims of religiously motivated violence in Nigeria as the United Nations marks its International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief on 22 August. Writing from Geneva, Janet Epp Buckingham, director of the WEA's UN office, said the day “carries special weight for Christians” because it invites the global church to remember those who have suffered and died because of their faith.
Nigeria has again drawn international attention as one of the places where Christians are among the victims of some of the world's most serious religion-related violence. Buckingham is careful to stress the complexity of the situation: violence there is driven by extremist terrorism, criminality, competition over land and resources, ethnic tensions, and weak governance, and not every attack can be explained as religious persecution alone. Yet Christians are suffering and dying in large numbers, and in some communities people are singled out precisely because of their Christian identity.
The article recalls individual cases alongside the statistics — Leah Sharibu, abducted from school in northern Nigeria in 2018 for refusing to renounce her faith and still missing more than eight years later, and Deborah Samuel, a 22-year-old student killed in 2022 over an alleged blasphemy message. In Kaduna State on 26 July 2026, attackers moving house to house left at least 30 Christians dead, including women and children. The Open Doors World Watch List reported 3,490 Christians killed in Nigeria between October 2024 and September 2025, while the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa recorded 22,835 Christian civilians killed between October 2019 and September 2025. Buckingham closes by urging that remembrance lead “not only to prayer, but to action” — to defend freedom of religion or belief, to call for accountability, and to stand with those whose dignity and rights are under threat.
Source: World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) — worldea.org
