Pastor murdered, church burned down in Nigeria

February 14, 2014

A 50-year-old evangelical pastor was brutally murdered in Kankia, a city of 150,000 in a largely Muslim region of northern Nigeria.

After the body of a murdered six-year-old girl was found close to Dike Ocha’s home, a gang of youths attacked him and burned down his home and church. After he was rescued and hospitalized, “his attackers followed him to the hospital where they killed him and set his corpse ablaze,” a Nigerian newspaper reported.

“We know fully that the pastor could not have been responsible for the death of this girl,” said Muhammad Hurdi, the state’s police commissioner, according to a report by World Watch Monitor, a news agency that reports on the persecution of Christians.

“The pastor was attacked because he happened to be close to the place and probably because some people do not agree with his activities or religious orientation,” added Hurdi.

 

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Further information:

• Nigeria: Bloodbath in Four States - 71 Killed in Plateau, Kaduna, Yobe, Katsina (Leadership)
• Pastor killed, church torched in Nigeria (World Watch Monitor)