Lay Faithful Trust Rescues 6 Orphans Evicted from Maiduguri IDP Camp, Launches N500 Monthly Appeal for Christian Advocacy
Our Correspondent
The Lay Faithful Trust Foundation has rescued six orphaned siblings who were allegedly evicted from an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Maiduguri, Borno State, after one of them refused to lie during a headcount by an NGO.
The Foundation, the socio-political arm of the Christian Social Movement of Nigeria, CSMN, and the National Christian Elders Forum, NCEF, made this known in a report released on July 4, 2026 titled “When the Poor Oppress the Poor”.
According to the report, the children lost their father to Boko Haram and later their mother to illness after fleeing to Maiduguri were left alone in the camp, they became vulnerable.
The Foundation said trouble started when a camp official asked one of the children to inflate the number of persons in their section during an NGO enumeration. The child refused.
“For her honesty and integrity, she was punished, but the furious official decided to make her and all five siblings scapegoats. The official evicted every single one of them from the camp,” the report stated.
The siblings were left to sleep in an unfinished building “with no doors, no utilities, and no privacy,” which the Foundation described as “a death sentence waiting for its time” given the insecurity in Borno.
The eldest, a 21-year-old university student, was left to care for the five others.
The Lay Faithful Trust Foundation said it intervened by providing a two-bedroom apartment, beds, food, and basic furnishings for the children. A displaced widow from their village was also engaged to live with them and provide care.
Legal support was sought to address the alleged misconduct of the camp official. However, lawyers advised that the case not be pressed further “out of concern for the children’s safety.”
“Today, the children are enrolled in school with ongoing support from Lay Faithful Trust Foundation; the eldest continues her studies at university,” the report said.
In a Special Announcement accompanying the report, CSMN and NCEF called on Christians nationwide to contribute a minimum of N500 monthly to a “common Christian purse” to fund advocacy and support for persecuted believers, especially those in IDP camps.
Citing Exodus 35:5, the groups said the initiative mirrors the Biblical model of pooling resources. They noted that previous attempts in 2014 and 2020 to establish a dedicated fund were frustrated by “unscrupulous Church officials.”
“As the US government withdraws its soldiers from Nigeria, it should dawn on Christians that our salvation is dependent only on God. However, faith without works is dead,” the statement said.
The groups said the crisis in Nigeria is a contest between “Democracy and Sharia ideologies” and called for political mobilization, media engagement, and support for Christians in politics.
“The truth of the matter is that if we cannot fund Christian advocacy, we have no one to blame for whatever happens to either Nigeria or the Church,” the statement said.
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