Nigerian Christians Ask US Government to Name Boko Haram a Terrorist Group

By admin in Christian News · August 3, 2013

At a press conference in Washington D.C. held by organizations representing Nigerian Christians, leaders asked that the United States officially recognize Boko Haram as a terrorist group.

 

Pastor Laolu Akande, executive director of the Christian Association of Nigerian-Americans (CANAN), joined with other leaders of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and stated that they had met with members of Congress to try and get the Islamic jihadist militant organization to be labeled as an official terrorist group.

Akande said that Boko Haram has targeted members and organizations of the Christian community including schools and churches in the mainly Muslim northern region of Nigeria.

Akande went on to say that the Islamic militant group, Boko Haram, has been put on the defensive because the Nigerian government has declared martial law in certain areas and the Christian populations are suffering more and more from their attacks.

Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, president of CAN, said that every week he gets text messages that indicate that a church has been burned to the ground, a pastor has been murdered or that Christians have been rounded up and executed on a roadside.

Emmanuel Ogebe, special counsel at the Jubilee Campaign and a member of the panel, said that during his first term about 3,000 Christians had been killed. He went on to say that the average last year was more than 100 Christians killed every month.

The White House has received two petitions—one formal one and the other one is online according to Ogebe. The formal petition reads in part: “As we approach the 10th anniversary of Boko Haram’s launch of violent attacks, we urge you to use your good office to designate this lethal mass murdering organization as a foreign terrorist organization.”

The Oval Office will give an official response to the other petition which will be  posted on the White House Petitions website if it gets at least 100,000 signatures.

Ogebe went on to say that they hadn’t received any support from any American Muslim groups, but they had met with a Muslim member of Congress to share their views. He added that the group had also talked with a Buddhist member of Congress as well.