This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The Washington Stand, in a new commentary on the slaughter of Christians by Muslims in Nigeria, is asking some pertinent questions about America's failure to halt the massacre.
"Why has the pattern of slaughter and anti-Christian terrorism been allowed to prosper so long and so extravagantly?"
The questions are being raised by Lela Gilbert, a senior fellow for International Religious Freedom at Family Research Council and Fellow at Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom.
She points out, "Nigeria is Africa’s most populous and prosperous nation. And the U.S. is Nigeria’s key trade and defense partner, with substantial influence over its leadership."
So why the devastating death toll: 5,068 were killed in Nigeria in 2022 for being Christian, 1,041 more in the first 100 days of 2023?
The toll comes from the anti-Christian hate of Islamist groups including Boko-Haram, Fulani radicals, and the Islamic State West Africa Province, the report said.
Recent reports from Intersociety, an organization based in Nigeria that reports on Islamist violence, confirmed the new statistics, including that "since the 2009 Islamic uprising, 52,250 Christians and 34,000 moderate Muslims have been butchered or hacked to death. And since 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari’s radical Islamism has arguably led to the killing of 30,250 Christians and to attacks on 18,000 churches and 2,200 Christian schools."
It's getting worse, too, the report said.
Citing Morning Star News, it said, "Fulani herdsmen and other terrorists killed 33 Christians in an attack Saturday night through the early hours of Sunday (April 15-16) in Kaduna state, Nigeria. Area residents said herdsmen alongside other armed terrorists invaded predominantly Christian Runji village, in Zangon Kataf County, at about 10 p.m. on Saturday (April 15) …"
There are other crises, the threats to Israel in the Middle East and Russia's war against Ukraine.
"Against this alarming backdrop, all-too-often our Western news reports overlook the ever-increasing bloodshed in Africa, even as radical Islamists — energized by the Islamic State — continue to ignite deadly infernos across that vast continent," the commentary said.
"It’s time we assertively reminded our elected representatives — in the Senate and House — about the bloodshed in Nigeria. Let’s demand American action," the article said. "Our U.S. government is able to project its influence in several ways into broken and desperate countries who have no real power of their own."
It noted Nigeria was considered a Country of Particular Concern by the U.S. State Department for the attacks on Christians.
Yet Joe Biden immediately canceled that.
"Considering the atrocious level of ongoing violence in Nigeria, re-designating Nigeria as a CPC should be an immediate U.S. policy objective. Until the U.S. takes solid steps toward alleviating the Nigerian bloodbath, a couple of troubling questions remain unanswered by President Biden and his seemingly oblivious State Department," it said.
