A pastor and his pregnant wife have been killed on their farm in North-Eastern Nigeria, representing the latest victims in a series of abductions and killings of Christians there. Gunmen shot dead Pastor Emmanuel Saba Bileya and his wife, Julianna, on their farm in Taraba, North-Eastern Nigeria.
This was according to the Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies where Pastor Bileya had been enrolled since 2014. His wife Julianna was pregnant with the couple’s ninth child. Mr. Bileya was a pastor in the Christian Reformed Church of Nigeria. He and his wife left behind eight surviving children.
The Hausa Christian Foundation says the couple have since been buried. Police confirmed that the couple were working on the farm, when, suddenly armed men came and opened fire on them, leading to the death of the pastor and his wife.
The Hausa Christians Foundation have described the killings as part of a “systematic, direct war against Christianity in Nigeria, It said that “pastors, Christian leaders and seminarians are either being kidnapped or killed every week” in the country.
Governor, Darius Ishaku also calls the killings “wicked and inhuman”. He said killings of this nature have happened too often recently in Southern Taraba communities and this is not helpful to the on-going efforts of the government to achieve lasting peace among communities in the area.
