"Death, physical injury and loss of property in Northern Nigeria are commonplace, as well as loss of land and livelihood." OpenDoorsUSA 2018

It has been said that the greatest chance of sectarian violence occurring is when one faction feels that the actions of another faction have left them politically and economically disadvantaged.

Such is the present situation between the Christian majority of the South (51% of the country's population) and the Muslim population of the North (49% of the country's population). For the Christian farmers of the north, it is having very deadly consequences with hundreds being killed and thousands being displaced from their farms and cities every month.

Christians are the majority (51%) of Nigeria's 180 million people and mainly live south of the middle belt. North of Nigeria"s middle belt, the majority of the population are the Muslim Fulani herdsmen who graze their animals on grounds historically owned by Christian Farmers, and they have been blamed for the brutal deaths of nearly 7000 Christians in Nigeria so far this year.

Responding to these allegations, the Fulani unequivocally deny being responsible for these deaths and they consistently say that Juhadist extremist posing as herdsmen are the ones who are doing all the killing. This newest form of covert, yet wide open insurrection is being referred to as "agri-terrorism"

Remembering the days when three million Christians were murdered by the Turks before World War One ended, these agri-terrorist extremists desire that their lands be cleansed of Christians and they do what they can to disrupt the little peace and security that exists in the agri-areas of the north.

Their methods of killing is abrupt, brutally efficient and dramatic enough to encourage thousands of Christian farmers leave their ancestral lands as typified by their present rate of killing being three times that of the infamous Boko Herom, who are encouraging these extremists.

Their effort to cleanse the land of Christians has going on for years and it is the great fear of many that if the United Nations continues to fail to do something about this genocide in Northern Nigeria, it can now be projected that Christianity could be eliminated from Nigeria by 2045.

Although this could well happen, it is still projected that Nigeria as a whole will become the world's third largest Christian population by 2050. Once again it seems that wherever Christianity suffers, it also thrives. These persecuted Christian farmers are in need of our prayers and our voices requesting that action be taken to stop the genocide.

Vanguard - "Still on Murderous Fulani Kidnappers" By Yushau A. Shuaib

Rik Charbonneaux is a retired NE Iowan who loves all of God's Word and all of His creatures.