Contact: Laolu Akande, Executive Director, Christian Association of Nigerian-Americans (CANAN), 516-819-4355, laolu@cananusa.org

NEW YORK, Nov. 20, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- In furtherance of our mission statements, the Christian Association of Nigerian-Americans, CANAN has today launched a Relief Fund to support victims of Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria.

This fund, according to Dr. James Fadele, the Chairman of the association, is meant, at this season of thanksgiving and Christmas, to encourage, support and lift-up family members and relatives of those who have been killed, suffered injury or those traumatized through the terrorist activities of that extremist-fundamentalist group in Nigeria.

CANAN plans to deliver checks to the victims who will be identified by our sister association in Nigeria, the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN. The presentation would be done in Nigeria just before Christmas.

As we enter into a time of thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations here in the US, we call upon all American Christians, churches, religious groups, NGOs, individuals, and all lovers of peace and people of goodwill to kindly remember the plight of those Nigerian Christians whose lives have been devastated because of the terrorist activities of Boko Haram.

There are hundreds of widows left without a source of livelihood, there are thousands of children rendered fatherless and many more family victims.

That group has insisted on the Islamization of Nigeria, the imposition of Sharia and the killing of Christians, especially those in northern part of Nigeria.

At the last count, more than 700 Nigerian Christians have been killed this year alone. A short video documentary titled Boko Haram: Terror, Blood & Death, on cananusa.org details the grim horror being perpetrated by this terrorist group.

As the leading Nigerian-American Christian group in the United States, CANAN will continue to advocate for the designation of Boko Haram as a terrorist organization by the US State Department.

The State Department has so far refused the recommendation of the FBI, Justice Department and the Homeland Security Department to declare Boko Haram a Foreign Terrorist Organization, FTO.

Please send checks to:
Christian Association of Nigerian-Americans, CANAN
PO Box 1041
Bay Shore, NY 11706

Or donate online on cananusa.org.