When Adah* and Naomi* asked David* for help, his instinct was to make sure that they were safe. The two women had grown up in a Muslim community and had recently encountered Jesus and decided to follow Him – but their joy was mixed with fear. Both women had received death threats from their own families, and knew they were in great danger. While approximately half of Nigerians are Christian, converting from Islam is extremely risky.
The two courageous women came to David, hoping he could aid them – and he was quick to respond. David and another church leader helped Adah and Naomi move away from the area, and away from the threats they faced.
David’s kind action enraged radical Muslims from the community – and the danger quickly turned on him instead. David and his fellow church elder were tracked by a gang who abducted and tortured them.
Arrested on fabricated charges
When the persecutors finally released them, you might think that David’s ordeal was over. Perhaps he would choose to go to the police, to prosecute the men who had so cruelly harmed him. But the opposite happened: the gang took David to the police, who arrested him on fabricated charges of kidnapping Adah and Naomi.
David was convicted during a three-day trial. The trial proceeded without due process:
he was given no legal representation and was still suffering from injuries inflicted by torture. He was sentenced to nine years in jail.
“Justice should not be an exception”
ADF International, and allied lawyers, intervened, demanding an appeal. In July 2025, a High Court judge overturned David’s wrongful conviction. Nigerian prosecutors failed to appear. They did not even try to defend their charges against David.
“The case is a powerful reminder of the urgent crisis facing Christians and other religious minorities in Nigeria,” says Sean Nelson, Legal Counsel for Global Religious Freedom at
ADF International.
“Justice should not be an exception, but rather the norm for Christians in Nigeria,” said John Samuel*, Open Doors’ legal advisor for sub-Saharan Africa. “We commend the High Court’s decision to overturn the wrongful charging and conviction of David. Such rulings are important in restoring faith in the justice system.”
Recent miscarriages of justice against Christians
Samuel highlighted, on the other hand, recent miscarriages of justice that diminish that faith in the legal system’s fairness and effectiveness. He says: “At the same time, we urge the government of Nigeria and its broader justice institutions to take meaningful action against the persistent climate of hostility against Christians and widespread impunity.”
“[Recent cases] reflect a troubling pattern in which justice is denied to Christians.”
John Samuel
Samuel particularly referred to the recent cases of Deborah Yakubu, Rhoda Jatau and Sunday Jackson, saying they ‘reflect a troubling pattern in which justice is denied to Christians’.
“Jackson, a farmer, still awaits execution for defending himself in a life-and-death struggle with an armed Fulani militant who attacked him on his farm,” said Samuel. “Christian nurse, Rhoda Jatau, was jailed for 19 months, for criticising the blasphemy mob killing of a young woman, Deborah Yakubu. And in Deborah Yakubu’s case, her killers filmed themselves lynching her. Yet those accused walked free – because prosecutors chose not to turn up to the trial.”
Signs of hope
Activists point to one sign of hope: a striking legal ruling against Nigeria’s blasphemy law by ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) judges earlier this year. It is the very existence of blasphemy law that sparks street executions in Nigeria. But in April 2025, ECOWAS justices ordered Nigeria to repeal, or amend, blasphemy law across the nation. Kano State’s Penal Code was singled out as ‘excessive and disproportionate in a democratic society’. Campaigners for religious freedom celebrated, calling it ‘a matter of life, dignity and Nigeria’s soul’.
But will Nigeria comply? Kano State officials responded defiantly in May, announcing: “We will not be deterred by external pressures.”
Please pray for religious freedom and justice in Nigeria, and join the African church in signing the Arise Africa petition, calling for protection, justice and restoration for Christians and other vulnerable religious minorities who face extreme violence, displacement and injustice.
*Names changed for security reasons
please pray
- Give thanks to God for David’s safe release
- For the legal system in Nigeria to be led by just and fair magistrates, judges and lawyers
- That the Arise Africa petition will lead to significant change for our persecuted brothers and sisters in Nigeria and across sub-Saharan Africa.
Arise Africa Petition
You can add your voice to the Arise Africa petition, answering the call of the African church to join them in calling for protection, justice and restoration.
If you’ve already signed, please share with your church, family and friends – we have a global target of a million signatures by 2026. The aim is to take the petition to the UN, EU, Africa Union and other local governments and decision-makers.
Sign the petition
