Amid ongoing violence in Nigeria that has claimed the lives of more than 100 people, a representative from the Marshall Catholic Newman Center is calling for prayers to ease the situation.

'Pray for those who are being persecuted for their beliefs,” Nick Chancey, campus minister and director of the Newman Center, said on Twitter. 

The relentless violence has been targeting Christian villages in northern and central Nigeria. A recent attack that started on the evening of May 15 and lasted until May 16 killed more than 100 people. The Pillar reported that most victims in that wave of violence were women and children. 

Multiple devastating attacks have struck nine communities in northern Nigeria, with the most recent incident adding to the ongoing violence in the region. Over the past four months, coordinated attacks have claimed the lives of more than 200 individuals. The responsible party for these attacks, which are still ongoing, is reported to be Muslim Fulani herders. The exact death toll has yet to be confirmed, as stated by The Pillar. 

Christian villages in Nigeria have faced a lack of government protection, with law enforcement often turning a blind eye and responding exceptionally slowly. These attacks frequently exhibit religious motivations, as terror groups like Boko Haram strive to enforce Islamic-based laws upon Christian communities. Disturbingly, over 50,000 Christians have lost their lives over the last 14 years, while millions have been forced to leave, The Pillar report said.

“I have never seen a nation so comfortable watching the killings of its citizens on a daily basis in the hundreds and nothing has been done for the past 15 years,” said Bishop Jude Ayodeji Arogundade, Bishop of Ondo, Nigeria, according to The Tablet. 

Arogundade made a plea for justice, the Tablet added. “The government must wake up and show strength and courage and make sure those who carried out the evil that took place in this church and the evil going around our country are brought to book and punished accordingly,” he said in the report.