Skip to content

ASSIST NEWS

Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times

Primary Menu
  • Dan Wooding, Founder
  • Our Writers
  • Story Archive
  • Contact Us
  • Log In
Live
  • Home
  • World Missions
  • Persecution
  • Funeral Held for Eight Christians Killed in Easter Procession in Nigeria
  • Persecution

Funeral Held for Eight Christians Killed in Easter Procession in Nigeria

Michael Ireland April 29, 2019 3 min read

The Rev. Nicholas Okoh. (Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion photo)

JOS, NIGERIA (ANS) — Hundreds of family members and sympathizers on Saturday (April 27) attended a funeral in northeastern Nigeria for eight young Christians, six of them minors, who were killed when an off-duty security officer drove his vehicle into their Easter procession on April 21.

Sources told Morning Star News, the officer, identified as Adamu Abubakar of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), reportedly had angry words with leaders of the Christian procession that delayed him and a passenger, off-duty police officer Murtala Hassan, from proceeding at a junction in Gombe, capital of Gombe state.

The Rev. Nicholas Okoh. (Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion photo)

Morning Star News reported the Christian leaders of the Boys and Girls Brigade, an international, interdenominational Christian youth organization, let the two Muslim men pass through, but a survivor told Nigerian outlet The Daily Trust that the driver warned them he would return, made a U-turn, switched off his headlights and rammed the procession from behind.

“This incident, no doubt, is motivated by terrorist acts, as the driver deliberately crashed into the procession,” the chairman of the Gombe State Battalion Brigade of the Boys Brigade, Isaac Kwadang, told Morning Star News. “The driver of the vehicle is a Muslim and an official of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), while his passenger is a Muslim police officer.”

Killed were Ruth Samson Samanja, 13; Keziah Amos Kwatam, 13; and Polina Yusuf Samanja, 11 of the Girls Brigade company in Gombe, Kwadang said. From the Boys Brigade, those killed were Sunday Samuel Gurnet, 19; Irimiya Amos Ibrahim, 14; Joseph Daniel, 21; Joseph Danjuma Paul Gavan, 15; and Jesse Markus Baka, 15, he said.

Kwadang said the vehicle assault also sent 12 Christians to the hospital for treatment of injuries.

“Both the dead and injured Christian youths are members of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) and Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) in Gombe,” he said. “Seven of the dead are from ECWA, while one is from COCIN.”

The two officers were also killed when crowds that survived the vehicle assault reportedly chased them down and mobbed them.

Kwadang said the killed and injured ECWA members were from congregations in Gombe and the Barunde, Tabra and Madaki areas of the town, while the slain victim from the COCIN was from the church at Y/Bogo.

He said the incident occurred on Biu Road at Alheri Junction in Gombe.

Chief Medical Director Shuaibu Muazu of the Gombe State Specialist Hospital told Morning Star News by phone that the hospital received eight corpses in its morgue.

The funeral service was later held at the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Center in Gombe. Attending was the deputy governor of the state, Charles Iliya, and other government officials. The bodies were buried at the Christian cemetery in Gombe.

The Rev. Nicholas Okoh, primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), noted that the assault was directed at people celebrating the resurrection of Christ.

“It is unfortunate that such a thing should happen on Easter Day,” he said. “It also shows that our country has not arrived [at the point] that people tolerate others. People are marching, showing joy, showing happiness, and somebody decides to crush them and kill so many for no reason.”

Garba Shehu, spokesman for President Muhammadu Buhari, said in a press statement that the president was saddened by the killing of the youths.

“My heart is filled with the pain that the families of the victims were facing as they buried these promising youngsters,” he said. “The entire nation is with you as experience this sad, indescribable loss. May the Almighty God comfort you at this difficult time.”

Nigeria ranked 12th on Open Doors’ 2019 World Watch List of countries where Christians suffer the most persecution.

Michael Ireland

Michael Ireland is an Internet journalist and Media Missionary serving as Chief Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service. He is also an ordained minister and an award-winning local cable-TV host/producer. Michael has served with Dan Wooding and ASSIST News Service (ANS) since its beginning in 1989. He has reported for ANS from Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan, China, and Russia. Follow Michael on Facebook at MichaelIrelandMediaMissionary and on Twitter at @Michael_ASSIST. You may support Michael as a media missionary at https://actintl.givingfuel.com/ireland-michael

See author's posts

Tags: Easter Procession Michael Ireland Morning Star News Nigerian Christians

Continue Reading

Previous: Hungarian Exhibition Highlights Persecution of Christians in the Middle East
Next: Pastor in Nepal Filled with Fear — and Faith – after Maoist Attack

Related Stories

Muslim man leaves Christian wife in safari park to be eaten by wild animals
3 min read
  • Persecution

Muslim man leaves Christian wife in safari park to be eaten by wild animals

May 30, 2023
Al-Queda frees Australian doctor held seven years
1 min read
  • Persecution

Al-Queda frees Australian doctor held seven years

May 26, 2023
Terrorists storm Coptic church, spraying bullets at ‘infidels’
5 min read
  • Persecution

Terrorists storm Coptic church, spraying bullets at ‘infidels’

May 25, 2023
Support Assist News

Introduction To Assist News

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=9&v=mbFxZL-bL7g

Search

Support Assist News
  • Dan Wooding, Founder
  • Our Writers
  • Story Archive
  • Contact Us
  • Log In
Copyright ASSIST NEWS © All rights reserved. | MoreNews by AF themes.

logo

Get Updates in Your Inbox