Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Award-winning rapper Nicki Minaj has spoken out in support of President Donald Trump’s accusations that Christians face persecution in Nigeria.
“Christians are being targeted in Nigeria,” Minaj told an event organized by the United States on Tuesday. He added: “Churches are being burned, families are being torn apart… just because of the way they pray.”
Analysts say the violence unleashed by jihadists and other armed groups affects all communities in the West African country, regardless of their background or beliefs.
This week alone, a church was attacked, killing two people, while the BBC has learned that a group of 25 Muslim girls were abducted from a school.
Later there were two girls Try to escape your kidnappers. A Muslim teacher and a security guard were also killed in an attack on a secondary school in the northwestern state of Kebbi.
Earlier this month, Trump said he would send troops into Nigeria “Gunshots are everywhere” If his government “continues to allow the killing of Christians.”
Mina, whose real name is Onika Tanya Maraj-Petit, told an event organized by the U.S. Embassy in New York at the United Nations that calling for the protection of Christians in Nigeria “is not about favoring or dividing people… but about uniting humanity.”
“It’s about standing up in the face of injustice. That’s what I’ve always stood for,” she added.
The 42-year-old rapper, who has previously spoken about her Christian faith, thanked Trump for “prioritizing this issue and providing leadership.”
The Nigerian government dismissed the claims, calling them a “gross distortion of reality.”
“Terrorists attack anyone who rejects their murderous ideology – Muslims, Christians and people of no faith,” one official said.
Other groups that monitor political violence in Nigeria say most of the victims of jihadist groups are Muslims.
Followers of both religions are roughly evenly divided among the country’s 220 million people, with a Muslim majority in the north, where most of the attacks have occurred.
On Wednesday, police in Kwara state in southwestern Nigeria confirmed that a church in the town of Eruku had been fatally attacked. Gunmen opened fire on worshipers the day before, killing two people and kidnapping many others.
Armed men identified by residents as bandits attacked the Christ Apostolic Church during a late-night program on Tuesday night, shooting the pastor and rounding up worshipers, local media said.
Images and short clips – believed to be from the church’s CCTV cameras – were widely circulated online showing terrified worshipers scrambling for safety, including an elderly woman desperately trying to escape the gunman.
On Tuesday, President Bola Tinubu confirmed that a senior military officer captured in an ambush had been killed by jihadists.
The Islamic State West Africa Province (Iswap) said on Monday that its militants had killed Brigadier General Musa Uba in the northeastern state of Borno.
The Nigerian army earlier denied that the officer was kidnapped and killed.
The latest attacks have sparked frustration and anger across Nigeria, with many lamenting an unending wave of insecurity affecting rural communities, churches, schools and major transport routes.
Mina described Nigeria as “a beautiful country with a deep faith tradition” and even acknowledged the West African country’s “beautiful Babuz” – her fans.
Mike Walz, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Thanks to the rapper For “using her vast platform to shine a spotlight on atrocities against Christians in Nigeria.”
For months, right-wing activists and politicians in Washington have claimed that Islamic militants are systematically targeting Christians in Nigeria.
But the BBC found that some of the data on which this conclusion was based was difficult to verify..
Analysts say deadly disputes tend to arise over vital resources such as land and water, or are sparked by ethnic tensions rather than religious issues.
