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| Abubakar Shekau: Purported leader of Islamist group Boko Haram. He was pronounced "killed" by the Nigerian government in 2009, but he started appearing in videos in 2010. The United States has a $7 million award for his arrest. (Screen capture from video) |
By Joop Coopman
Bishop Hyacinth Egbebo is the administrator of the Apostolic Vicariate of Bomadi, in Nigeria's Niger Delta, in the heart of the country's oil-rich but economically-deprived south. Nigerian Christians are confronted with the growing threat of radical Islam in the form of the extremely violent anti-Christian Boko Haram sect, which was declared a terrorist organization by the U.S.
With 160 million people, Nigeria is Africa's most populous country. Just over 50 percent of the people are Christians, who form the majority in southern Nigeria; Muslims account for another 45 percent of the population, largely living in northern Nigeria. There are 30 million Catholics in the country. In 2012, close to 1,000 Christians died because of their faith in Nigeria, according to reports, and Boka Haram is responsible for the deaths of at least 700 Christians in 2013.
According to the bishop, Nigeria's well-being holds the key to fate of the African content. "If Nigeria falls to Islamic extremists," he says, "all of Africa will be at risk." Bishop Egbebo spoke with Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need Jan. 1, 2014.
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