The wife of a Nigerian pastor was murdered last month by terrorists as she traveled home with her 2-month-old baby, according to a persecution watchdog.
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Oluwakemi Moses, wife of Pastor Konye Timilehin Moses with the Redeemed Christian Church of God, was shot by terrorists Nov. 17 while traveling on a highway, Morning Star News reported.
Moses was traveling from her native Ondo state to her home in Jalingo, Taraba state when the tragic murder unfolded. During her funeral Nov. 25, her husband paid tribute to her life and delivered a heartbreaking message.
It’s an especially difficult circumstance considering she left behind a newborn.
“Goodbye, righteous soul, till the resurrection morning,” Pastor Konye Timilehin Moses told mourners. “I love you, Oluwakemi. Keep resting, my dear love; you’re indeed in the bosom of our Savior. Till we meet again.”
The incident underscores the difficult situation for Christians in various parts of Nigeria, a country that has unfortunately become a bastion for murder, persecution, and extremism. A Taraba resident named Emmanuel Yakubu told Morning Star News this is hardly a one-off situation.
In fact, Yakubu said, “incidents like these persist unchallenged” and said citizens face similar circumstances.
As CBN Digital recently reported, Nigeria has become a hotbed of Christian persecution, with killings, land grabs, and other forms of rebuke putting Bible believers in a truly precarious predicament.
Jeff King, president of International Christian Concern (ICC) and one of the world’s foremost experts on religious freedom and persecution, recently told CBN his organization’s “2023 Persecutors of the Year” report explores 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.”
Meanwhile, the Biden administration again declined last December to add Nigeria to the list, despite the dire situation inside the country.
The Trump administration had previously placed Nigeria on the list in 2020 before the Biden administration removed it. The recent decision to keep Nigeria off the list has riled religious freedom advocates frustrated by the U.S. government’s approach.
King speculated one of the factors is oil, as Nigeria has this resource and, as a result, is set apart in the eyes of the world.
“If religious freedom was the only prism we looked at Africa through, this country would be dealt with,” he said. “But because of their strategic importance, because of the fact that they’re an oil-producing nation, they’ve gotten away with a lot, and so we’ve let them off the hook over and over.”
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