Nigeria — a nation the U.S. Department of State has failed to designate as a Country of Particular Concern — is among the worst persecutors of Christians, an international religious freedom watchdog group reported.
“Nigeria is arguably the most dangerous place to be a Christian in the world today,” International Christian Concern stated in its 88-page 2023 “Persecutors of the Year” report.
The report points to terrorist groups in Nigeria such as Boko Haram, which has been responsible for more than 38,000 deaths in the past 12 years, and the enforcement of Sharia law in 12 northern states as sources of persecution.
ICC documents 55 attacks in Nigeria resulting in the deaths of 549 Christians from March 4 to July 6, the burning of a Catholic seminary and killing of a seminarian in Kaduna State, and the overnight murder of more than 20 people in a Plateau State village by radical Fulani militants in August.
Other countries on ICC’s top 10 list of oppressive nations are: North Korea, India, Iran, China, Pakistan, Eritrea, Algeria, Indonesia, and Azerbaijan.