Pastor Ade Omooba, co-founder of Christian Concern, told the attendees of a prayer vigil for the release of 270 abducted Nigerian schoolgirls, that “radical Islamism is a virus which is in the atmosphere” infecting vulnerable young men in Britain as well as in Africa.
The vigil in London was supported by more than 400 worshippers and was organised by Nigerian church leaders in the UK, including representatives of The National Day of Prayer and Worship, The Overseas Fellowship of Nigerian Christians, Christian Concern and the International Strategic Alliance Committee.
Ade Omooba said: “I want to emphasise that what we are seeing playing out in Nigeria with the abduction of our schoolgirls, is part of a much wider threat to the free world, from a militant form of Islam that seeks to destroy Christianity and freedom of expression.
“Nations are sleepwalking if they think they are free from a faraway threat of Islamic ideologues. These people are out to destroy the freedoms that Christian democracies have provided – freedom of thought, freedom of expression and freedom to follow beliefs without fear of persecution, torture, rape and death.
“Militant Islamism will destroy the lives of those who join it, as well as the lives of their families and communities. Just look at the mutations of this radical Islamist virus – across the world we have al-Quaeda, Al-Shabbab, the Army of Islam, Hezbollah, Harak-ul-Mujahideen and of course in Nigeria, Boko Haram. They are all part of a worldwide ideology, which is bent on imposing a sharia regime in every land.
“Help us fight Boko Haram and also help organisations such as mine – Christian Concern – to expose the viral threat of militant Islamism in our midst.”
See highlights from the vigil >
