from EMEKA OKONKWO in Abuja, Nigeria
Nigeria Bureau
ABUJA, (CAJ News) – AROUND 200 kidnapped Christians are reportedly detained under horrendous conditions at a terrorist camp in northern Nigeria.
They are presumably held by nomadic herders, mainly Muslim, in the denounced facility near Rijana, some 32km (20 miles) south of Kaduna City, within proximity to Nigerian military bases.
The city is the capital of Kaduna state.
This has prompted some pro-Christian groups to appeal to the new United States government of President Donald Trump to intervene amid allegations of lack of action by the government on this mishap.
Reports of such detention emerged at the end of February after the release of six adults and two children who allegedly endured over ten weeks of starvation and daily beatings.
Relatives reportedly paid a US$30 000 ransom.
Rights organisations report that despite multiple inquiries, Nigerian police and military officials had not responded to requests for comment as of time of this publication.
Dr Gregory Stanton, founding President of Genocide Watch, condemned the military’s alleged inaction, considering the said camp was near a military base.
“The Army’s complicity is clear—either cattle-owning generals are being paid off, or they are too corrupt and cowardly to act,” he said.
Stanton, who is also Chairman of the Alliance Against Genocide, urged the United Nations Human Rights Council to appoint an international commission of inquiry, and complicit generals face demotion and prosecution.
Kaduna is synonymous with kidnap gangs and clashes by livestock rearers and mostly Christian farmers, over land.
Judd Saul, founder of Equipping the Persecuted, urges the US to intervene and hold the Nigerian government to account for the alleged atrocities to continue.
In February, Trump announced financial aid restrictions against South Africa over planned land reforms and targeting the white minority.
“I call on the US to take decisive action on behalf of persecuted Christians in Nigeria,” Saul said.
– CAJ News