Chris Smith: “Before you got here, I think, at least, I raised the issue of Habila Adamu. He was a man whom I met in an IDP camp in…”

“Before you got here, I think, at least, I raised the issue of Habila Adamu. He was a man whom I met in an IDP camp in Jos in September of last year. He did tell the story about how Boko Haram broke into his house, dragged him outside, with a terrorist holding an AK-47 right to his nose area. With his wife weeping, pleading with this man not to shoot her husband, he said: You convert or else I will shoot you. He said: I am ready to meet my Lord. So the trigger was pulled, and he blew his face away. You can see it on the other side that he has had some reconstructive surgery. Not only was this man a living martyr because he survived it--they left him for dead because he was bleeding so profusely--but when I met him in Jos, he didn't have a scintilla--the slightest--of malice towards the gunmen. He said he prays for them. I mean, you are talking about Christian love overcoming a terrible hatred, the likes of which we can't even understand. When he testified here--because I invited him to come to Washington to testify before my subcommittee--you could have heard a pin drop. A lot of the press, including the Associated Press, led with his story. That is transformative, I believe, to see someone who, almost like our Lord from the cross, says: Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do. Here was this man who was a living martyr, and I couldn't have been more moved, inspired.…”