AP

Nigerian children abducted

Open Doors

On Thursday  March 7, more than 200 children were taken from the primary and secondary schools in Kuriga village, Kaduna State, Nigeria.

“Students were kidnapped from the school premises on Thursday morning around 8:00 am (local time). About 287 students are still in the hands of the bandits, 100 from the primary side and 187 from the secondary school,” the state’s police spokesman, Mansur Hassan, told CNN, adding that “over 300 students were initially kidnapped, but some were rescued.”

This comes only days after it was reported that internally displaced people from Gamboru Ngala, a market town in Borno State, were taken by suspected Boko Haram and Islamic State’s West Africa Province fighters. 

It is unclear who is responsible for the kidnapping of the schoolchildren or their motive. Kidnap for ransom has become a lucrative business in northern Nigeria but especially in the northwest where Fulani militants and criminal gangs are active. 

 “For many of us, this will be a reminder of when 276 mostly Christian female students aged from 16 to 18 were kidnapped by the Islamist terrorist group from their secondary school in Chibok – which was also from Borno State – in April 2014,” said Jo Newhouse, Open Doors’ spokeswoman for sub-Saharan Africa.

“But these are not isolated abductions. Attacks and kidnappings – particularly in the north of Nigeria – have seriously worsened over the last decade. Christians are among those who are especially targeted. The Nigerian Government is failing to discharge its duty to protect its citizens from violence and attacks.

“Arms proliferation, impunity, and government inaction has allowed the expansion of Boko Haram and increasing violence in the north of Nigeria, where attacks by armed bandits on villages and schools are becoming endemic.”

According to Open Doors research, more than 37,500 people have been killed since Boko Haram’s insurgency started in 2011.

Nigeria is ranked at number six on Open Doors’ World Watch List where life for Christians is the most dangerous. 

Irish voters protect marriage

Lifenews.com

Voters in Ireland have rejected a governmental referendum aimed at redefining language in the nation’s constitution centring on the importance of marriage and the family. Prime Minister Leo Varadkar was surprised by the failure, 67.7% opposing the suggestion.  “Clearly we got it wrong,” he said. “While the old adage is that success has many fathers and failure is an orphan, I think, when you lose by this kind of margin, there are a lot of people who got this wrong and I am certainly one of them.”

The proposal would have altered the article to remove wording stating the institution of marriage is the principle “on which the family is founded.” The amendment, had it been approved by the Irish people, would have broadened the article to include both marriage and “other durable relationships”.

A second referendum, rejected by 73% of voters, would have removed references to the centrality of a woman’s “life within the home”, replacing them with an article acknowledging the importance of family members in general, without defining them by gender.

Pakistani Christians acquitted

Barnabas Fund

Christian brothers Umar Saleem (known as Rocky) and Umair Saleem (known as Raja) have been acquitted on charges including “blasphemy” following the anti-Christian riots that ravaged the Christian area of Pakistan’s Jaranwala in August 2023.

Defence lawyer Tahir Bashir told the Anti-Terrorism Court in Faisalabad that the men were innocent and there was no evidence against them. Justice Mohammad Hussain gave orders for the acquittal.

The brothers were charged under all three of Pakistan’s notorious “blasphemy” laws, including Section 295-C of the Penal Code. This section, relating to defiling the name of Muhammad, carries a mandatory death penalty. They also were accused under Section 9 of Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Act with stirring up sectarian hatred.

Muslim mobs attacked churches and the homes of believers on August 16 following unfounded claims that torn pages of the Quran were found in the area.

– compiled by Barney Zwartz