US military intervention did not protect Nigeria's Christians, lawyer says
Families burying in a mass grave their relatives killed in deadly attacks by armed groups in Nigeria's central Plateau State. Photo: KIM MASARA/AFPTV/AFP via Getty Images
On August 13, 2026, Nigerian lawyer and human rights defender Jabez Musa, who defends Christians from persecution, stated that US military intervention did not stop attacks on Christians in Nigeria, reports The Christian Post.
Jabez Musa said that following American airstrikes, militants have re-strategized and the attacks have increased instead in all the regions. And it is now going down to the southern part of Nigeria.
In late 2025, the United States carried out airstrikes against militants linked to the Islamic State in northern Nigeria, and in early 2026 deployed military personnel to assist in counter-terrorism operations. But most U.S. troops were withdrawn from the country last month – a move Musa believes left the intervention incomplete.
The human rights defender also spoke about ongoing kidnappings of Christians. During one attack on a church, militants seized a woman with three children. Although the woman escaped the camp, she lost her daughter to complications from an underlying illness along the way. Musa is also handling cases of girls who, according to him, are being kidnapped, forcibly converted to Islam, and subjected to forced marriage.
Musa accused Nigerian authorities of failing to adequately protect Christian communities and called on the international community to respond more swiftly to what is happening. According to him, people continue to be killed and kidnapped, and many Christians are forced to leave their homes and live in camps for displaced persons.
The UOJ previously reported that a joint wedding was organized in Nigeria for 300 Christian and Muslim couples.
Read also
Religious procession to Vashkivtsi monastery begin in Bukovyna
UOC believers set out in a religious procession to the Saint Anna Convent in Vashkivtsi ahead of the patronal feast of the Maccabean Martyrs.
In Nigeria, Islamists kill three Christians in one week
In Nigeria's Plateau State, Fulani militants continue to attack Christian communities; one of the victims was shot on his way to a Sunday morning worship service.
US military intervention did not protect Nigeria's Christians, lawyer says
A Nigerian human rights defender stated that attacks on Christians did not stop following US military intervention, and that militants merely changed their tactics.
Konotop Eparchy venerates miraculous Vorhol Icon of Mother of God
Metropolitan Roman of Konotop and Hlukhiv celebrated the Liturgy at the site where the Vorhol Icon of the Mother of God appeared.
UOC comments on collapse of Khotyn Fortress wall
The Church drew attention to the Culture Ministry’s inaction over collapses at Khotyn Fortress and raised concerns about the fate of churches taken away from religious communities.
Drone hits UOC church in Pamyatne
Windows were blown out and the roof was damaged at a church of the Nizhyn Eparchy dedicated to the Holy Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessaloniki during an attack.