Nigerian Pastor’s Murder Sparks Sobering Response to Horrific Christian Persecution: ‘We Can No Longer Bear This’

Yet another pastor has been slaughtered in Nigeria, underscoring the crumbling state of affairs for Christians in the African nation.

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The Rev. Manasseh Ibrahim was reportedly killed last week as he traveled to provide ministry to church members, according to sources who spoke to Christian Daily International-Morning Star News.

Ibrahim was reportedly slaughtered by “bandits” in the Kaduna state, though many other believers have faced violence at the hands of Islamic extremists in recent years.

“Rev. Manasseh Ibrahim, a pastor with ECWA [Evangelical Church Winning All] Church, Gure, was on his way for a pastoral church ministration in the Kurebe area of Birnin Gwari Local Government Area of Kaduna state when he was ambushed and killed by the bandits,” the Rev. Yahaya Kinge, a local faith leader with the Christian Association of Nigeria, said in a statement.

Kinge lamented the intense violence and persecution Christians face in the region, noting believers “who are direct victims of banditry and insurgency in Kaduna state are fed up with the inability of Nigeria government to find a lasting solution to the incessant killings of innocent Christians.”

And he wasn’t done there. Kinge also said Christians have had enough of these murderous and dangerous actions and implored the government to help.

“The hard push of Christians to the wall through incessant attacks is enough,” he wrote. “And we can no longer bear this brunt.”

As CBN News has reported, the situation in Nigeria is dire. The list of anecdotal examples of violence against Christians is extensive. In November, Oluwakemi Moses, the wife of a Nigerian pastor, was murdered by terrorists as she traveled home with her 2-month-old baby.

And the Rev. Charles Onomhoale Igechi, a Catholic priest who was vice principal of St. Michael College, Ikhueniro, was slaughtered last year while driving through Benin, Edo in Nigeria.

These events aren’t new, though international attention on the matter is continuing to grow. Violence in Nigeria broke through the global news cycle in May 2022, when Deborah Emmanuel Yakubu, a 25-year-old Christian college student, was stoned to death by a Muslim mob.

The killing of Yakubu, a Shehu Shagari College of Education student in Sokoto, Nigeria, was purportedly filmed and shared on social media, horrifying the international community.

Persecution trackers have extensively documented the severity of the issue. Open Doors’ World Watch List 2024 placed Nigeria in the sixth spot in its rankings of nations where anti-Christian persecution and discrimination are the worst.

A line from a press release announcing the results read, “More than 82% of Christians killed across the globe for faith reasons were in Nigeria.”

And Jeff King, president of International Christian Concern (ICC) and one of the world’s most knowledgeable experts on religious freedom and persecution, told CBN News last year his organization’s “2023 Persecutors of the Year” report also reveals the full scope of the problem.

“Most Americans have no idea what’s going on in Nigeria, but imagine this: for the last 20 years, probably up to about 100,000 Christians have been murdered,” King said. “Three-and-a-half million Christians, their lands have been taken from them, and the government’s pretty much done nothing.”

In addition to killings and violence, social pressures are also intense. ADF International recently sounded the alarm over two Nigerian universities — one federal and one state — that have reportedly barred Christian students from “being able to use any facilities for worship [or] fellowship.”