A leading Christian persecution watchdog has said that Nigerian Christians are facing blatant discrimination as the country scrambles to contain the spread of COVID-19 and provide food aid to its citizens.
Open Doors says that in one area of Nigeria, the Christian minority has complained of receiving just a sixth of the food rations given to other members of the community. The charity said that others feel like they have been “shunted to the back of the queue for aid and forgotten.”
Despite Nigeria logging just over 1,500 cases of the disease so far, experts anticipate that Africa could be subject to an infection surge over the coming months.
“We are only at the dawn of the unfolding of this pandemic in this part of Africa,” said spokesperson, Jo Newhouse, according to The Express. “There are many causes for concern for Christian minorities, like the economic impact of continued violence against Christians amid lockdowns, marginalization of Christians, especially [converts], and Christians being blamed to have caused the virus.”
Christians across the globe have been suffering an uptick in persecution after the floating of a number of conspiracy theories that pin the blame on followers of Jesus for the spread of coronavirus.
In the war-torn nation of Somalia, native Islamic terror group al-Shabaab has been conveying a false message to the Muslim community that the coronavirus is being spread “by the crusader forces (Christians) who have invaded the country and the disbelieving countries that support them.”
Similary, in Uganda, the radicalized Islamic community has been blaming Chinese Christians for the outbreak of coronavirus, arguing that Allah is punishing them for burning copies of the Koran. Open Doors noted that many hardline Muslims were “threatening to put to death any person who is first identified to be positive with the coronavirus.”