Suspected militants of Islamic extremist group Boko Haram killed a pastor at his home in Gombe state, Nigeria on Sunday, as violence continued to terrorize the country’s northeast, sources said.
The Rev. Bala Galadima of the Evangelical Church Winning All was shot to death at about 1 a.m. on Sunday in Lubo, according to members of the local ECWA congregation.
They said gunmen dressed in black robes broke into his residence on the premises of the ECWA church in Lubo, Yamaltu-Deba County and shot him point black in the back while he was in bed.
Congregation members said the terrorists entered the town shooting into the air to discourage anyone from attempting to stop them. First arriving at a house they mistakenly believed to be that of Pastor Galadima, they asked for directions to his home, demanding money at gunpoint from those informing them before going on to the ECWA property.
“Our hearts are heavy, as we are left alone in a complicated world with the killing of our pastor, Rev. Bala Galadima,” said church member to Lami Sabo. “His courage, advice, teachings and generosity will be highly missed by us his church members.”
The pastor’s death deeply affected the church, she said.
We members of ECWA Church Lubo will really miss him,” Sabo said. “It’s very hard for us to say goodbye to our general in the Lord, Rev. Bala Galadima.”
Buhari Abdullahi of the Gombe State Police Command said in a statement that officers arrived at the church premises after the assailants had escaped.
“Gombe State Commissioner of Police Bello Yahaya visited the hospital where the body of the deceased pastor was taken to and has deployed a special squad of police personnel to the area,” Abdullahi said. “We have coordinated a special operation, and we are confident that the culprits would be arrested.”
Nigeria is one of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian. Of the 4,476 Christians killed for their faith worldwide during the reporting period, 3,100 (69%) were in Nigeria, according to the WWL.
“The measure of anti-Christian violence in the country is already at the maximum possible under World Watch List methodology,” the report stated.
In the country’s North-Central zone, where Christians are more common than they are in the North-East and North-West, Islamic extremist Fulani militia attack farming communities, killing many hundreds, Christians above all, according to the report. Jihadist groups such as Boko Haram and the splinter group Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), among others, are also active in the country’s northern states, where federal government control is scant and Christians and their communities continue to be the targets of raids, sexual violence and roadblock killings, according to the report. Abductions for ransom have increased considerably in recent years.
The violence has spread to southern states, and a new jihadist terror group, Lakurawa, has emerged in the northwest, armed with advanced weaponry and a radical Islamist agenda, the WWL noted. Lakurawa is affiliated with the expansionist Al-Qaeda insurgency Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin, or JNIM, originating in Mali.
Nigeria ranked seventh on the 2025 WWL list of the 50 worst countries for Christians.
This article was originally published by Christian Daily Interiational–Morning Star News.
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