Urgent Prayers for Nigeria

This Saturday, Nigerians will elect a new president.
 
This could be a turning point for Christians in a nation where they face extreme persecution. More Christians are killed each year in Nigeria than every other country combined.
 
“Ethnic-religious cleansing is on the ballot,” one Christian leader said.
 
Security officials are warning every religious institution in Nigeria to “beef up their security network in the places of worship”.
 
Christians have suffered massively in the last decade as terrorists seek to turn the country into an Islamic State. Thousands have been killed and countless injured, kidnapped, and their churches attacked.
 
About half of the population of 220 million are Christian. The North is majority Muslim, and the South is majority Christian.
 
One leading candidate, Peter Obi, is a Christian from the South. His enthusiastic young followers call themselves “the Obedients”.
 
Some fear that Fulani Islamists, including corrupt military officials, will not accept if a Christian candidate wins the election.
 
Violence erupted after the presidential election in 2011. In two days, it spread to most of the country, leaving hundreds of Christians killed or injured, churches and houses destroyed, and businesses of non-Muslims burned or destroyed.
 
Pray for God to:
 

• Protect and strengthen His people and ruin the plans of the wicked.
• Place people in the new government who will work for justice and righteousness.
• Release the captives, including Leah Sharibu, and heal the brokenhearted.