Pastor Abel Damina has backed the claim that Christians are facing attacks in Nigeria, revealing that he’s a victim of numerous attacks which occurred in Northern Nigeria.
In a video on his social media pages, the cleric who heads Abel Damina Ministries International lamented that some forces are trying to play down the attacks, which have been coined as Christian Genocide.
The Guardian reported that the President of the United States, Donald Trump, recently slammed the Nigerian government over the killings of Christians, threatening to storm the country “Guns-a-blazing” if the situation is not addressed.
Reacting, some government officials described the claim as false, stating that what Nigeria is facing is terrorism because Muslims are also getting killed by terrorists. They also described the situation as a clash between farmers and herders scrambling for scarce resources in the country.
Reacting, Damina revealed that before the situation snowballed into banditry, terrorism, and farmers-herders clash, Christians had always suffered persecution in the Northern part of the country.
This was as he recounted several instances, including those from as far back as the 80s, while growing up in the North, which he narrowly escaped from.
He said, “There has been this conversation going on on whether there is a genocide in Nigeria or whether there’s no genocide in Nigeria. I listened to certain individuals who said that there’s no genocide in Nigeria. Whether you call it genocide or you don’t call it genocide, let me speak as a victim. I am not just a student of research. I’m speaking as a victim of these gruesome circumstances around innocent Nigerian people, where innocent lives have been taken away by some people who think they have more right than others in this nation. And some people have reduced it to herders and farmers clash. No, sir. This has been ongoing.
“I grew up in Northern Nigeria. My father was a pastor with the Assemblies of God church. One morning, we just woke up in Assemblies of God church in Samaru, Zaria, somewhat adjacent to the north gate of Samaru, Zaria. My father was a pastor. All of a sudden, no provocation, nothing. The next thing we hear is people running all over our house and the church with machete and all of that. The next thing was that they started pouring petrol all over the building, both the church and the house, because our house was adjacent to the church. And the next thing was flames. Everything was burnt down to ashes. We narrowly escaped and found a place where we sheltered ourselves in the military barracks. Eventually, they brought us back to the lecturers’ quarters of ABU Zaria, and we had to camp with a family for four weeks and months before we could rebuild and start life all over again. That was long ago, I’m talking about 1986/87.
“What about the Metacine situation? The Metacine was a sect of the Islamic religion that went around burning and destroying, and killing Christians. This was back in the 80s, before there was anything like farmers and herders clash. Fast forward to the year 2000, where over 200 people were killed in Kaduna. What about the over 200 people who were killed because of Miss World in November 2002? All of them were not a part of the Miss World. They were just on their own. Something happened somewhere else, and they became victims of it. Lives were lost, houses were destroyed. And whenever they are carrying out this charade, they’ll be shouting ‘Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar’, while carrying their machetes, carrying whatever they have, and they will move in their numbers, and anybody in their way not chanting what they are chanting will become a victim.”
Damina then narrated an incident in Kaduna State, which led to the death of a pastor friend of his, while he and others hid in a hotel.
He said, “I can go on and on. A few years ago, I was preaching in Kaduna for a great man of God, and I only succeeded in preaching in the Sunday morning service. After the service, the next morning, while we were preparing for service on Monday, the next thing I was hearing is that the whole Kaduna was on fire. Please, stay indoors, they are burning churches, and they are killing everybody. That is how we were stuck in a hotel. Even in a hotel, we were not sure of ourselves because they were going from hotel to hotel, killing people who were not chanting Allahu Akbar. Somehow, God saved our souls. After about four days, we were able to leave Kaduna. But unfortunately, a friend of mine, a pastor, Reverend NorthCourt Andrew, God bless his memory, was caught in the midst of this as he was escaping for his life. They caught him because he was wearing the collar of a bishop. They hacked him to death, dug the ground and buried him there and put a cross there. It was that wooden cross that made people realise there was a corpse there.
“These are real-life situations. So, for somebody to sit down in the comfort of somewhere in the South and say there’s nothing like such in Northern Nigeria… My brother, you have not been a part of it. We have been part of the fire. There was a time these Muslim boys were all over the place in my school, and they were shouting Allahu Akbar, and they were looking for me. I had to escape that night. My saving grace was a female hostel, and I slept under the bed. By the next day, I left town. For what? I did nothing. No provocation. Just because I was preaching the Gospel. Of course, some of them believe that once you are not of the Islamic faith, you are an infidel. They believe that if you kill an infidel, you will sleep with seven virgins. You know, all of these kind of indoctrinations that pushes violence at the slightest provocation. Whether it has to do with people or not, you just get on the streets.
“What about the Reinhard Bonkke crusade in Kano, where people were hacked, matcheted and killed just because of a crusade where the Gospel of Christ is going to be preached. And that is why I thank God for people like President Donald Trump, who lent his voice to what is going on here. For whatever it is worth, there’s an ongoing conversation all over the world. The matter is put under the carpet. We want some action. In the midst of this, it snowballed into herders and farmers clash. It snowballed into banditry and everything became very complicated, and people are dying by the day. There are places in Borno State, places like Plateau State, places like Benue State, places like Southern Kaduna, where whole villages have been taken over by bandits, by some of these Islamic extremists, by some of these Boko Haram people. They’ve taken over whole villages and driven the villagers away. And somebody said there is no such thing in Nigeria. Why do we have IDP camps when we’ve never had an earthquake? Why do we have IDP camps when we’ve never had natural disasters other than people being made victims of what they have no knowledge of, in a secular state like Nigeria, where all religions are permitted to be practised? This ought not to be allowed at all.
“When you live in a country where you don’t know what will become of you if you go out, it’s almost as if there’s no government. Because the first responsibility of government is the protection of lives and properties, whether at the federal level, state level, and local government level because the population doesn’t have access to arms. But unfortunately, some of these bandits, some of these terrorists, some of these extremists, they carry AK-47, and you wonder where they get them from. In fact, it’s unfortunate that at a point in Nigeria, a local government in Borno State, Boko Haram drove all our Nigerian security forces and put their flag there. It’s very unfortunate. The government of Nigeria needs to do something quickly, quickly, quickly; otherwise, where this is taking us, we do not know. This has to come to an end. The IDP camps need to be emptied, let the people go back to their homes, let people go back to their villages, let people go back to their farmlands, let people go back to their habitation, so that they can live normal lives, so that they can live the lives they are supposed to live on earth. This conversation is so critical at this time, and it’s critical that I add my voice to it as a victim of this situation in a country like Nigeria. I believe in God that the day has come when this menace will surely come to an end. God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Amen.:
