{"id":1756,"date":"2021-08-24T13:29:45","date_gmt":"2021-08-24T13:29:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/?p=1756"},"modified":"2021-10-25T15:58:52","modified_gmt":"2021-10-25T15:58:52","slug":"stories-of-christian-martyrs-christianah-oluwatoyin-olusase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/stories-of-christian-martyrs-christianah-oluwatoyin-olusase\/","title":{"rendered":"Stories of Christian Martyrs: Christianah Oluwatoyin Olusase"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The day started out like any other school day for teacher Christianah Oluwatoyin Olusase. There was nothing to suggest that<br>anything out of the ordinary might happen, though as a Christian teacher in predominantly Muslim northern <a href=\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/nigeria\/?_source_code=VSLEG11\">Nigeria<\/a>, she surely<br>understood the risk to her life that daily hovered. Still, Olusase took her<br>work seriously and was open about her faith. It was not a secret that she<br>was a Christian, and this is what eventually led to her death.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was time for an Islamic Religious Knowledge exam at the Government Day Secondary School in Gombe, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/nigeria\/?_source_code=VSLEG11\">Nigeria<\/a>, where Olusase taught.<br>As was her custom during any test, she collected the students\u2019 bags, books, and papers, and set them aside for the girls to pick up after completing their tests. She then handed out the examination papers. Somewhere during this routine activity, one of the girls grew very upset and began spreading the word to the other students that a copy of the Koran\u2014the Islamic holy book\u2014had been in her bag. She supposedly didn\u2019t agree with the way her teacher had handled it, and she accused Olusase of desecrating the Koran by touching it since she was a Christian.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The other students in the all-girl class agreed, and the situation soon<br>escalated as they began chanting \u201cAllahu Akbar!\u201d (&#8220;Allah is great!\u201d) The<br>girls then got out of their seats and swarmed their teacher. They threw<br>stones from outside at her, used heavy objects to club her, and eventually<br>beat her to death. Afterward, they dragged her body outside the classroom and set it on fire.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\r\n\t<div class=\"wp-block-vom-subscribe-ad\">\r\n\t\t<figure>\r\n\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.persecution.com\/stories\/wp-content\/plugins\/vom-custom-block-subscribe-ad\/assets\/magazine-cover.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\r\n\t\t<\/figure>\r\n\t\t<div class=\"text-button\">\r\n\t\t\t<p>Request your free magazine<\/p>\r\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/free-magazine\/?_source_code=VSTORYM1\" class=\"wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"Subscribe to our free magazine\">Subscribe<\/a>\r\n\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n\r\n\t\n\n\n<p>The shocking circumstance of Christianah Oluwatoyin Olusase\u2019s<br>death is not an isolated incident. A similar incident occurred in February<br>2006 in the neighboring state of Bauchi when a secondary school teacher,<br>also a Christian, supposedly confiscated a Koran from a student. This teacher also was accused of desecrating the Koran, and a riot ensued in<br>which five people were killed and several churches burned down. Other<br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/nigeria\/?_source_code=VSLEG11\">Nigerian <\/a>Christians have been beaten, kidnapped, threatened, intimidated, and even killed by Muslims in a country that is sharply divided<br>between Christian and Muslim. Though Islam claims to be a religion of<br>peace, every day is a risk for Christians in Northern <a href=\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/nigeria\/?_source_code=VSLEG11\">Nigeria <\/a>who seek<br>to spread the Gospel of true peace and love. But it is a risk that will plant<br>seeds of faith and salvation and reap an eternal reward, as testified in<br>the story of Christianah Oluwatoyin Olusase. She certainly knew the<br>stories of fellow persecuted Christians in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/nigeria\/?_source_code=VSLEG11\">Nigeria<\/a>, and she daily understood the risk to her own life. Yet that didn\u2019t deter her from making her faith known.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This story is an excerpt from Foxe: Voices of the Martyrs. <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/foxe\/offer\/?_source_code=VSAEG01\"><em>You can get your own copy free with any donation to The Voice of the Martyrs.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The day started out like any other school day for teacher Christianah Oluwatoyin Olusase. There was nothing to suggest thatanything out of the ordinary might happen, though as a Christian teacher in predominantly Muslim northern Nigeria, she surelyunderstood the risk to her life that daily hovered. Still, Olusase took herwork seriously and was open about her faith. It was not a secret that shewas a Christian, and this is what eventually led to her death. It was time for an Islamic Religious Knowledge exam at the Government Day Secondary School in Gombe, Nigeria, where Olusase taught.As was her custom during any test, she collected the students\u2019 bags, books, and papers, and set them aside for the girls to pick up after completing their tests. She then handed out the examination papers. Somewhere during this routine activity, one of the girls grew very upset and began spreading the word to the other students that a copy of the Koran\u2014the Islamic holy book\u2014had been in her bag. She supposedly didn\u2019t agree with the way her teacher had handled it, and she accused Olusase of desecrating the Koran by touching it since she was a Christian. The other students in the all-girl class<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1774,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[96],"tags":[43],"class_list":["post-1756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foxe","tag-nigeria","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Stories of Christian Martyrs: Christianah Oluwatoyin Olusase - Stories<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It&#039;s a risk that will plant seeds of faith and salvation and reap eternal reward, as testified in the story of Christianah Oluwatoyin Olusase.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.persecution.com\/stories\/stories-of-christian-martyrs-christianah-oluwatoyin-olusase\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stories of Christian Martyrs: Christianah Oluwatoyin Olusase - 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