A Nigerian lawyer who rescues abducted Christian women and girls says American airstrikes and troop deployments did not slow the persecution, and that violence has actually spread since U.S. forces withdrew.

The lawyer, who uses the pseudonym "Jabez Musa" for his safety, told The Christian Post that the U.S. military intervention that began with Christmas Day airstrikes against Islamic State militants in northern Nigeria gave Christian communities a brief window of hope, but that the operation was not sustained long enough to change the trajectory on the ground. Troops deployed in early 2026 were pulled out roughly a month before the interview, and Musa said the attackers used the gap to regroup.

The result, he said, is a worsening crisis. Fulani militants and Islamic extremist groups continue to raid churches, abduct worshippers, and force Christian girls into marriages and conversions to Islam, and the violence is now pushing south into regions that had been largely spared.

Airstrikes came and went, but the killing didn't stop

President Trump placed Nigeria on the State Department's list of countries of particular concern for tolerating religious freedom violations after alleging last October that the Nigerian government had failed to protect its Christian communities. He described the violence as an "existential" threat to Christianity in the region. U.S. airstrikes followed on Christmas Day, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the effort killed hundreds of Islamic State militants.

Musa acknowledged that the initial strikes lifted morale among besieged Christians. But the follow-through fell short.

"In the long run, it has not been helpful because when the U.S. used its jets and bombed the attackers, Christians felt that if it were to be sustained, it would have been helpful. But it was not sustained."

He went further, saying the militants adapted once the pressure eased.

"The attackers have re-strategized, and the attacks have increased instead in all the regions. And it is now going down to the southern part of Nigeria. So we would say that it has not helped actually."

Thousands have been killed across Nigeria in recent years amid rising attacks on predominantly Christian farming communities in the country's Middle Belt and northern states. Millions more have been displaced, according to the U.N. refugee agency. The crisis has prompted organized prayer movements involving hundreds of thousands of women calling for international attention.

Nigeria was named the global epicenter of Christian killings in 2025 by the Open Doors World Watch List. The scale of the violence was underscored earlier this year when armed gunmen abducted more than 160 worshippers from two churches in Kaduna state during Sunday services, part of a pattern in which Muslim Fulani militants target Christian congregations and collect ransom payments.

A mother's barefoot escape through the forest, and a child who didn't survive

Musa shared survivor accounts that put flesh on the statistics. One unnamed woman was abducted with her three children, ages 12, six, and four, during an Easter Sunday attack on a church. Fulani militants seized dozens of worshippers that day and marched them into a forest camp.

The family escaped on August 1. The mother described carrying her youngest daughter, Christie, on her back as they fled barefoot through the forest for two days without food or water. When she grew too weak, her 12-year-old son took over.

"All four of us walked barefoot through the forest for two days without food and water."

Christie had been critically ill before the escape. Her eyes and legs were badly swollen, and she could no longer walk. She died after the family made it out of the forest.

Another woman abducted in the same Easter Sunday raid, identified only as Victoria, gave birth while still in captivity. There was no medical assistance. Victoria said her captors forced another prisoner to use her teeth to cut the baby's umbilical cord because there was no sharp object available. The baby died three weeks later.

These are not isolated cases. Persecution of Christians extends well beyond Nigeria's borders. In Pakistan, a Christian father of four was killed by a Muslim co-worker after a dispute, and a Pakistani Catholic died in custody after a blasphemy charge with no trial, reminders that the targeting of believers is a global pattern.

Abducted girls face forced marriage and conversion through the Hisbah

Musa described a system in which abducted Christian girls are funneled toward forced marriages and conversion to Islam through an organization called the Hisbah, an Islamic enforcement body formed shortly after northern Nigerian states adopted Sharia law in the year 2000.

He recounted the case of a Christian girl abducted from Jos, in Plateau State, and taken to neighboring Bauchi State. She was about to be married off to a Muslim man through the Hisbah when Musa and fellow advocates intervened. They wrote to the Hisbah through the Bauchi State government and managed to trace her.

"Right now, we are in court and hearing will soon commence. We are convinced that we are going to use the court to get the girl released."

Without that intervention, Musa said, the outcome was predictable: "She would be married off, and she would be converted to Islam and forgotten." He added that many Christian girls have already been abducted and converted without anyone ever finding out.

The lack of accountability extends to governments that fail to protect persecuted Christian communities and, in some cases, allow perpetrators to walk free.

Nigeria's government offers arrests but little protection, Musa says

Musa described the Nigerian government's response as performative. Officials arrest some attackers and file charges, he said, but the process stalls.

"A semblance of action by arresting some of the attackers, getting them charged in court and it stops there."

He painted a grim picture of daily life for Christian communities left to fend for themselves: "We see daily attacks being carried out by the militants. And the communities have no protection. They are on their own. People are killed, and women are abducted."

Musa acknowledged that Nigeria's courts are "largely independent" in most human rights cases. He pointed to mass trials held in Abuja's federal high courts between April and June or July, during which some militants were convicted and sent to prison. But he said there are instances where courts lack independence, and the broader pattern remains one of impunity.

Displaced Christians who survive the attacks face a second crisis in camps plagued by health problems, food shortages, scarce medication, and poor sanitation. Children go without education. Musa called on the international community to "act fast because the rights of Christians are being denied."

Musa's own village was threatened after a Fulani general's death

The lawyer's advocacy comes at personal cost. In 2022, a Fulani general died in Plateau State near the village where Musa lives. Christians were arrested in connection with the killing, but Musa alleged the general was actually killed elsewhere and his body was brought to Jos specifically to "smear the Christian community."

In the aftermath, militant Muslim youths threatened to attack Musa's village. He described sleepless nights waiting for an assault that the government did nothing to prevent: "We were not sleeping at all and we were not seeing government coming to our rescue."

Musa operates under a pseudonym because the work of rescuing abducted girls and pressing their cases in court makes him a target. He collaborates with journalists and other lawyers to locate victims, sometimes tracing them across state lines before filing legal challenges. The dangers facing Christians who speak out are not unique to Nigeria, a Scottish missionary was recently found dead under violent circumstances abroad, a reminder that serving the faith can carry lethal risks.

The U.S. intervention in Nigeria checked a box. It did not change the facts on the ground. When the planes left and the troops came home, the militants went back to work, and the people paying the price are the same ones who were paying it before Washington got involved.