A family in Shuwari IDP camp in Maiduguri, Borno. csi
The Islamic terrorist group Jama’at Ahl al-Sunna li al-Da’wa wa al-Jihad, popularly known as Boko Haram, has killed thousands of Christians, and razed hundreds of Christian villages and communities across Borno State since it started its military campaign against the Nigerian government in 2009. It is also estimated to have destroyed over 18,000 churches.
Countless Christian families impacted by the insurgency will never be the same as a result of what they have suffered.
Rejoice David lost her husband in a brutal Islamist attack. Now she is bringing up six children on her own. “Boko Haram killed my husband in 2013. He was a police officer who was on duty when Boko Haram attacked his duty post, tied him up, and took him away into the bush,” she told Christian Solidarity International (CSI).
“We later saw the video of his execution posted by Boko Haram. In the video clip they asked him if he was an infidel. He said he was not, he was a Christian. Then they beheaded him with a machete.”
No place to call home
Thousands of displaced Christians have been forced to become refugees, crossing into neighboring Chad, Niger, or Cameroon in search of safety. Others remain in Nigeria where they move from one township to another with no place to call home.
Victoria Yusuf, a mother of four, has experience both as a refugee in a foreign land and as a displaced person within Nigeria. Her rootless existence began when her husband was killed 11 years ago, and she has no hope it will improve in the near future.
In November 2014 Boko Haram staged an overnight attack on Victoria’s village of Goshe, burning homes and churches and killing many residents. Victoria’s husband was shot dead as he tried to flee on his motorcycle.
Victoria and her children escaped to a hill east of Borno, where they managed to survive for six months with little to eat.
Hungry and destitute
“The children cried from hunger. When they fell sick, there was no medicine,” said the widow. “Later, someone organized us into a group and took us to Cameroon. We lived there for a year. I used to pick up leftover grain from farmlands so I could grind it up to feed the children. The only clothes we had for more than a year were the ones we were wearing when we fled our village.”
After a year in Cameroon, Victoria and her children were relocated to a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Yola, eastern Nigeria.
“In Yola, I would sit by the roadside with my children, begging. Passers-by sometimes gave us bread or a few Naira notes,” recalled Victoria. “When my children fell sick again, I was told the only hospital that could help was in Maiduguri, Borno State.
“We had nowhere to live in Maiduguri, so we were brought to Shuwari camp. For 11 years, I have been a wanderer and there is still no future for me or my children.”
Conditional resettlement
Survivors of Boko Haram’s violence, especially Christians, face systemic discrimination. Food distribution and humanitarian aid often exclude Christians whose names are omitted from official registers. Government policy requires refugees to live in “recognized camps” to receive assistance. Many church-run camps are not recognized by the authorities.
Reports by Christian IDPs of denial of food, worship spaces, and shelter by the camp officials have been ignored by the government. Many Christians therefore choose to live outside the camps. Some are lucky enough to have been taken in by relatives and friends.
Despite the huge numbers of displaced, in August 2022, Borno State Governor Babagana Umara Zulum ordered the closure of eight IDP camps in Maiduguri, the state capital: Bakassi, Stadium, Teacher’s Village, Farm Centre, Dalori I and Dolori II, Mogcolis, and NYSC camp. The camps’ forced closure led to the further displacement of more than 14,000 people.
The move, widely condemned by human rights organizations, left many vulnerable to Boko Haram attacks. The government was further accused of favoring Muslims in the resettlement of IDPs, with Christians obliged to convert to Islam to stand a chance of being given housing.
Other Christians realised that even if they did obtain housing, they would be living among “repentant” Boko Haram militants, the same people who had destroyed their homes and killed their family members.
“The governor rebuilt only villages that benefited his people and religion,” said Babagana, a Christian IDP. “At least 16 destroyed villages belonging to mostly Christians remain untouched. We must either convert to Islam or remain trapped here.”
Life under Islamic rule
Returning home to their ancestral villages is not an option for Christians who have been displaced. Fifteen years after the Islamist insurrection began, Boko Haram is still very much in control in the region.
In Borno State, which has adopted Islam as the state religion and sharia as law, Christians live as second-class citizens, particularly in rural areas where extremists are in charge.
The terrorist group has installed its own local administrators, known as amirs, who govern communities, collect taxes, and enforce strict religious rules. Only Muslims who conform to their version of Islam are allowed to live in these villages. Christians are reportedly executed on sight unless they convert and even then, they are often killed “to guarantee their place in paradise,” and prevent them going back to Christianity.
Under the pretext of “land regularization,” the state government has demolished several churches in Maiduguri. Although officials later admitted some demolitions were “in error” and promised compensation, no payments were made. Those who attempted to rebuild were denied permits.
“The government even tried to confiscate the Catholic church building near the town center to build a mosque there,” a church leader told CSI. “If the Christian community hadn’t united against it, the church would have been destroyed.”
Living like slaves
“We are refugees who have lost everything and now we are slaves,” commented Ibrahim, a father of four who fled an attack on Atagara, near Gwoza.
Driven by hunger and desperation, displaced Christians are forced to pay Boko Haram large sums, sometimes millions of naira, or hundreds of dollars, to access farmland. In some areas, where the terrorist groups are attacking villages, soldiers also demand payments for protection or access.
“Last year we paid three million naira to Boko Haram to farm in Tunkushe, Komda, and Magumeri,” said Mary, an IDP. “This year they demanded six million. We contributed what we could. Then, before harvest, they said we must pay again.” The farmers scraped together all they had, but Boko Haram were not satisfied, and took revenge.
“They slaughtered the men like rams and took away women. They said they would not allow infidels to reap the harvest. I barely escaped that day”
Farming despite the risks
Despite such risks, many displaced Christians continue farming to preserve their dignity.
“We are forced to choose between getting killed or remaining silent, docile and enslaved,” said Bitrus. “I would rather die trying to feed my children, it is a more dignified death than dying slowly of hunger as a beggar before my children.”
“A lot of people think we don’t farm and rely on donations and handouts. I can assure you that people from Gwoza, Margi, Michika, we are not lazy people,” another displaced Christian told CSI. “You will not find one person from these villages joining a line for food or on the streets begging. The Lord has been with us.’’
“What bothers us is the injustice and disdain for Christians and the discrimination,” he added. “When we cry out, we are accused of insulting the government.”
“We’ve lost our lands, our heritage, our dignity, and now we are slaves in our own state. We don’t know who to cry out to but God. Our trust is in Christ alone.”
Crying out for justice
Meanwhile, both the federal and state governments have spent billions on “rehabilitating and deradicalizing” Boko Haram terrorists.
“They’ve recruited ‘repentant’ terrorists into the army and other security agencies,” a retired police officer in Maiduguri told CSI. “They’re given houses, stipends, and special treatment instead of facing justice for their crimes.”
The global community’s attention has largely focused on the crises in the Middle East and Ukraine, while the tragedy unfolding in Borno State has been largely ignored.
“It seems opportunists including government officials, are exploiting the suffering of Christians to push a religious agenda,” a retired legal practitioner told CSI.
“They know how vulnerable these people are and use that vulnerability as a weapon. This must not be allowed to continue. Greater awareness is urgently needed to correct this tragic injustice.”
(NB: Some names have been changed to protect the identities of the victims.)
