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February 3, 2022

Ghana
Behind Africans’ Thirst for Prophecy; Confusion About the Present and Anxiety About the Future

Late last year, the Ghana Police Service issued a statement in which it warned those it referred to as “doomsday prophets” to desist from prophesying or face prosecution and a term of imprisonment of up to five years. It reminded the Ghanaian public that “it is a crime for a person to publish or reproduce a statement, rumor or report which is likely to cause fear and alarm to the public or disturb the public peace, where that person has no evidence to prove that the statement, rumor or report is true.”

Nigerian preacher in a white robe up on a stage talks to a multitude of believers in the background in a mega church.

March 14, 2022

Nigeria
Mummy G.O.: Nigeria’s Much-Derided Pentecostal Preacher Enunciates a Powerful Social Critique

Within the space of a few months, fifty-five-year-old evangelist Olufunmilayo Adebayo, popularly known as Mummy G.O., has gone from the relative obscurity of downscale Iyana-Ipaja, Lagos, to the most discussed subject in contemporary Nigerian Pentecostalism. The target of a blizzard of savage internet memes and unrelenting mockery, the founder and leader of the self-styled Rapture Proclaimer Evangelical Church of God (RAPEC) has been getting all the attention in a context where the leading—and mostly male—clerical figures dominate the news as a matter of course.

Worshippers attending mass wear face masks and sit in individual chairs six feet away from each other.

June 7, 2023

Nigeria
Not Their President

For the first time since the country’s return to civil rule in 1999, Nigerian Pentecostals find themselves on the outside looking in.

A Nigerian military helicopter is captured in the air with a Nigerian flag hanging from the bottom during the inauguration of Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu.

April 11, 2023

Nigeria
“A Religious War”

Nigeria’s close-run presidential election was not about religion, until it was.

A pastor dressed in white stands before a congregation, some of whom are laying on the ground in prayer.

June 2, 2023

Nigeria
Nigeria Security Tracker Weekly Update: May 20-26

This update represents violence in Nigeria and related to Boko Haram in Cameroon, Chad, and Niger from May 20 to May 26, 2023. 

Map of Nigeria shaded in red to reflect Nigeria Security Tracker-documented deaths per state. Borno state, the northeastern-most state, is dark red, while the rest of the country are shades of pink. Regions of Cameroon, Chad, and Niger that have experienced Boko Haram-related violence are also shaded.