“Enough is enough!”

That was the message which millions of Nigerian Christians sent out this morning over the menace of Boko Haram, the Islamic terrorist group that has embarked on a violent campaign to either convert or wipe out Christians in the country.

Unable to bear the horror anymore, Nigerian Christians at midnight launched a spiritual war, imploring God to come to their rescue by sowing confusion in the camp of Boko Haram.

A text message circulated among Christians last night urged them to individually pray for 15 minutes from midnight to 12:15 a.m., to implore God to throw Boko Haram’s camp into confusion.

The text message, which was forwarded to the Publisher of Transport & Business Express, said: “All Christians are praying by 12am tonight, for 15 minutes to call down confusion to the Boko Haram sect in one voice to our GOD. Join us send this to 10 people, please.”

Since there were no designated places for the prayers, Transport & Business Express could not monitor the rate of response. However, knowing the prayerful nature of Nigerians, it is expected that many professed Christians would have responded positively to the call for prayer against Boko Haram.

Based largely in Nigeria’s northwest, Boko Haram was founded in 2009 by Mallam Muhammad Yusuf, who resigned his appointment as a commissioner in the Borno State cabinet to concentrate on growing the sect, which has killed over 1,500 people – mainly Christians who are attacked in their churches.

Early this week, the sect killed 16 people during a meeting by Deeper Life Bible Church in Lokoja, Kogi State. Christians have so far resisted the temptation to retaliate. According to Northern Christian elders after a meeting in Kaduna on May 6, “The reason Christians do not retaliate is not because we are cowards but because that will be a sin. It is unfair to go and attack, kill or maim people that are innocent, that may not even know the attackers or may even hate what the attackers are doing.”

Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), has issued routine statements warning that Christians may someday be forced to defend themselves. He once said in a statement: “I will make a final call – I repeat, a final call, to the Nigerian government to clearly refine and neutralise the problem as other nations have done. The Church leadership has hitherto put great restraint on aggrieved millions but can no longer guarantee such co-operation if the trend of terror is not halted immediately.”

*Photo shows CAN President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.

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