The NATIONAL PRAYER ALTAR
MARATHON PRAYERS
Monday 14th– Sunday 20th July 2025
WE JUST WANT TO GO HOME
For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it (Jer. 30:3).
A few days ago, the displaced people of Rumana Gbagyi in Kaduna State produced a documentary entitled, “We Just Want to go Home”. The documentary highlights the anguish and agony that internally displaced Nigerians face, following the vicious attacks on their homesteads by terrorists and mercenaries. They were decent people living their decent lives, offending nobody. Now they have been reduced to taking shelter under nylon tents in undignified IDP camps, without food, water, and basic sanitary facilities. They have children who can no longer go to school, and for many of the families, the father was murdered along with members of the family. Those citizens did nothing to warrant their distressing condition. Calamity befell them by virtue of where they lived in Nigeria. It could have been anyone. The documentary can be accessed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkQwI_N18a0
In June 2025, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) released a report, asserting that the population of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Nigeria has risen to 8.18 million, the highest in West Africa, surpassing that of Burkina Faso at 3.58 million, Niger at 2.06 million, Mali at 931,000, and Cameroon which accounts for 1.42 million IDPs, with about 44% of the persons displaced being within their own borders. The report further stated that an estimated 2.76 million Nigerians live abroad as refugees or asylum seekers. The UNHCR report insisted that the 8.18 million IDPs in Nigeria excludes “nomads in transit and unregistered city migrants”. The IDPs captured in the report of the UN agency are the indigenous ethnic nationalities, the actual owners of Nigeria.
Four factors are considered responsible for the displacement: religion, Fulani territorial expansion, international conspiracies, and the economic interests of the capitalist western world.
Religion: In a viral video produced in 2012, Abubakar Shekau, the late leader of Boko Haram, said, “this war is not political. It is religious. It is between Muslims and unbelievers (arne). It will stop when Islamic religion is the determinant in governance in Nigeria.” Islamist insurgency is a major driving force pushing Nigerians into IDP camps. The fact that all the terrorist groups operating in Nigeria are Islamic, supports this view. All the members of Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen, Al Qaeda, ISWAP, Ansaru, Lakurawa, bandits, and so on, are Muslims. The conclusion therefore is that Jihad has been launched upon Nigeria, to make Islam the dominant religion as well as being the political group that should run the government in Nigeria.
Fulani territorial expansion: In September 2019, the Bauchi State Governor, Mr. Bala Mohammed, described the Fulani as “stateless” and “transnational”. The Governor claimed that all the Fulani in Africa have the right to dwell in Nigeria. According to the Governor, “the Fulani man is a global or African person”. (i)
The suspicion that government is in support of the land grabbing agenda of the Fulanis has been strengthened by such government policies as RUGA, Grazing Colony, as well as the Open Visa Policy of the Buhari administration. In June 2020, the National President of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Alhaji Bello Abdullahi Bodejo, said that the Fulani own Nigeria and do not need any permission to enter any community as they are the owners of land anywhere across the nation. (ii)
In addition to the foregoing, some of the IDPs confirm that those who took over their villages after they were driven out are Fulanis.
International coalition: In December 2022, the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) announced that it has chosen Nigeria as the food hub for all its member countries. One of the reports in The Guardian states, “All the member countries of OIC selected Nigeria as the storage hub. The Secretariat of the OIC will garner the resources, buy the grains and store them in Nigeria so that in the event of any food insecurity, we can distribute them from Nigeria to other places.” The report further states that the Director, Federal Department of Agriculture, Abdullahi Abubaka, disclosed this in Abuja at the sidelines of the Islamic Organisation for Food Security (IOFS) Regional Training Workshop on “Strategic Planning and Policy Development in Food Security”’. (iii)
It is not known when Nigerians agreed to turn their country into a food hub for member countries of OIC. The additional issue to be considered is, which land would be used for the massive farming that should provide food for OIC member countries? It can be concluded that the attacks on indigenous communities in Nigeria is part of the plan to create the space for this OIC farming project.
Commercial interest of developed nations: In a widely circulated video, Captain Aliyu Babangida alleges that foreign interests are backing bandits and terrorists to eliminate natural-seed farmers and force them to adopt Genetically Modified seeds (GMO). He postulated that the operations of those vested foreign interests are prominent in Benue state, the food basket of the country. (iv)
This is an allegation that has been in the public domain for many years, with accusing fingers pointing at Monsanto, an American multinational. Premium Times wrote an editorial in August 2016, lamenting “The Growing Menace of the Monsanto-induced Pro-GMO Lobby in Nigeria.” (v)
Vatican News reported that 147 farmers were killed in one attack on Borno and Adamawa states. “Nigerian farmers are leaving their homes in various parts of the nation in order to survive as the number of attacks increases, displacing people from their places of business and causing them to lose their sources of income.” (vi)
Illegal mining is another selfish commercial interest that puts pressure on indigenous ethnic nationalities to abandon their homes. A January 2025 news in The Vanguard newspaper stated that “a 2023 report from the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development stated that more than 80% of mining activities across Zamfara, Niger, and Kaduna states are illegal and that the Nigerian government loses about $2 billion in revenue annually to illegal mining.” The report further stated that “several of the communities where mining activities were going on were bedeviled by insecurity as bandits sacked some of the communities like Ayilamo in Logo Local Government Area, LGA, (Benue state) and parts of Kwande where gold mining threw up huge security and environmental challenges.” (vii)
With 8.18 million Nigerians officially in IDP camps, the rest of the citizens should be aware that their own lives are also in danger. Those who have driven 8 million people into IDP camps will not hesitate to drive 80 million citizens out of the country. Therefore, Nigerians, particularly the Christian community, must realize that good leadership is crucial to their survival.
Nigerians should not assume that it cannot get worse. A CNN report states that “European settlers killed 56 million indigenous people over about 100 years in South, Central and North America, causing large swaths of farmland to be abandoned and reforested, ...” (viii) The European settlers in Australia nearly wiped out the aborigines to take over their land. Ditto for the Arab takeover of Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Sudan, and some other nations. Presently, pressure is mounting on the indigenous ethnic nationalities of Nigeria to either flee the country or go into IDP camps. Those who still live in their houses, on their ancestral land, should not assume that the carnage cannot get to them.
Under the circumstances, Nigerians must be vibrant to confront corrupt and compromising leadership. Christian leaders in this season have confirmed their indifference to the plight of Christians in the country. Therefore, Christians should be determined to insist on restructuring religious leaders (Gal. 2:11).
In the prayer call of 31st March - 6th April 2025, entitled “THE PARABLE OF THE ESTATE MANAGER,” it was pointed out that the current leadership structure of the Church cannot cope with present-day challenges. The Church should restructure its leadership and bring in lay professionals so that virile and effective leadership can stand for the Church in these distressing times. Christians should not underestimate what is going on.
In the 15 years of the insurgency, the Church leaders produced no structure to engage the Islamists, nor any plan to help and succour IDPs. The plans that were handed over to them in 2014/2015 were destroyed in 2017. Whenever a company faces bankruptcy, the first decision of the Board is to restructure the management. A sinking company is never left in the hands of the same management that brought it into ruins. May Christians understand.
Concerning the government, the late Gen. Abacha was quoted to have said, “If an insurgency lasts for more than 24 hours, then, know that the government has a hand in it.” It is unbelievable that there are Christians supporting governments that apparently endorse insurgency that aims at eliminating Christianity in Nigeria, and they call it “politics”? The APC-led government has, for 10 years, violated Section 14(2)(b) of the constitution that says, "the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government". In the coming elections, Christians should ensure that they participate actively in bringing new people into power. There is government complicity in the ongoing insurgency.
Finally, Christians are urged to support the IDPs. It should be borne in mind that what happened to them could happen to anyone in Nigeria. They should be helped to be strong and to reclaim their ancestral lands. It is only then that the other citizens are safe.
God bless Nigeria.
P.S. Please watch and share the documentary at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkQwI_N18a0
PRAYER POINTS
1. Ps. 126
By faith in the word of God, proclaim the restoration of the IDPs back to their homes.
2. Ps. 68:30
Pray that God would scatter those who delight in war and bloodshed in Nigeria.
3. Is. 29:6-9
Pray that God would recompense destruction to the nations that gather to destroy Nigerians.
4. 2 Thes. 1:6
According to the word of God, pray that God will recompense tribulation to those who afflict Christians and attack Christian communities, driving them into IDP camps.
5. Acts 11:27-30
Pray that God shall place the burden of the welfare of the IDPs on Christians. Pray that Church leaders will join in the mobilization of support for the IDPs.
6. Acts 15:6-7
Pray that Holy Spirit will mobilize influential Christians to commence reorganization of the leadership structure of the Church, to respond to contemporary challenges.
7. Is. 33:22
Pray that God will reorganize the Executive, Legislature, and Judiciary of Nigeria and raise credible leaders for the country.
FOOTNOTES:
i. https://tribuneonlineng.com/bauchi-governor-on-the-stateless-fulani/
ii https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/06/outrage-greets-miyetti-allahs-nigeria-belongs-to-fulani-comment/
iii https://guardian.ng/business-services/nigeria-to-serve-as-food-storage-hub-for-oic/
iv https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q22Az-Vxt0
v https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/209477-editorial-the-growing-menace-of-the-monsanto-induced-pro-gmo-lobby-in-nigeria.html?tztc=1
vi https://www.vaticannews.va/en/world/news/2023-08/nigeria-affected-armed-attacks-on-farmers-risk-food-crisis.html
vii https://www.vanguardngr.com/2025/01/how-illegal-mining-fuels-insecurity-in-the-north/
viii https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/01/world/european-colonization-climate-change-trnd
