Aid to the Church in Need organizes a prayer campaign for Nigeria
Montreal, Friday February 6, 2015 – On 14 February 2015 Nigeria will be voting for a new president and a new parliament. The April 2011 elections in Nigeria “were heralded as among the fairest in Nigeria’s history, but they were also among the bloodiest,” according to Corinne Dufka, senior West Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch.
Across 12 northern states – more than 800 people were killed in 3 days of rioting and 65,000 people were displaced. The imminent election is also overshadowed by the terror campaign of the Islamist organization Boko Haram, which wants to destabilize the country.
A show of solidarity
Ignatius Ayau Kaigama, Archbishop of Jos, President of the Nigerian Bishops’ Conference and the Christian Association of Nigeria said to Aid to the Church in Need: “It is time to show solidarity. We want to hold free and fair elections without violence. We want democracy, good government policies and that the militant Islamist groups change their attitude. We want to live together peacefully, as brothers and sisters. I therefore ask for your prayers so that the upcoming elections can be held peacefully, without violence and without bloodshed.”
Bishop Dashe Dome, whose diocese of Maidiguri is the heartland of the Islamist terror group, called also for prayer to overcome the Boko Haram threat: “The most important thing is to pray for our people; I know people are praying for us and I am very grateful. I want people to pray the Hail Mary – our mother Mary has been championing our cause. We have a lot of devotion to the Blessed Virgin.”
The Call to Prayer will start one week before elections, on Saturday 7th February and will be held throughout the week, to raise awareness and encourage people to pray for Nigeria and for the peace in this country. Each day we will offer different prayers. In Twitter and Facebook you can follow the action using the hashtag #2015NigeriaPrayer.
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