YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon – Nigeria saw the bloodiest year of Islamist attacks against Christians in 2023, with more than 8,000 killed, according to a new report from the Catholic-inspired NGO the International Society for Liberties civil rights and the rule of law (Intersociety).
The report released on February 14 – Ash Wednesday – gives harrowing details of killings, kidnappings and enforced disappearances of largely Christian populations in several parts of Nigeria.
“The combined government forces protecting Islamic jihadists and the National Security Forces (NSFc) are directly and indirectly responsible for the deaths in 2023 of as many as 8,222 defenseless Christians – over a period of 13 months or January (2023)-January. (2024)”, indicates the report, signed among others by the director of the Intersociety, Emeka Umeaglalasi.
The killings, according to the report, were carried out by a wide range of actors, including Fulani jihadist herdsmen who were responsible for at least 5,100 Christian deaths, Boko Haram and their allies with 500 deaths, Fulani jihadist bandits with 1,600 dead and “Islamic groups”. “inspired” with 1,000 Christian deaths.
He said the killings from January 2023 to January 2024 were “the deadliest in recent years” and blamed the abject failure of the Nigerian government and security forces for not “being up to the task.”
But last year’s killings are part of a long-running war against Christians, dating back to 2009, when Boko Haram launched its deadly campaign in Africa’s most populous country.
“Nigeria has become the second deadliest genocidal country in the world, with more than 150,000 defenseless civilian deaths for religious reasons since 2009,” the report said.
It says about 100,000 Christians were among the 150,000 killed, while moderate Muslims made up about 46,000 and members of other religions made up the remaining 4,000 defenseless civilians.
The report said Nigeria’s death toll was exceeded only by that of Syria, which has been plunged into a devastating civil war since 2011 with 306,000 civilian deaths out of an estimated 21.5 million citizens.
According to the report, the systematic killing of Christians in Nigeria amounts to “a silent genocide”, highlighting the lack of media coverage and the indifference of the global community.
The report also states that the killings and resulting horrific and atrocious violence against individuals or groups and their property, based on ethnic and religious factors, have resulted in the destruction of tens of thousands of civilian homes, moreover 18,500 places of Christian worship, 1,000 places of religious worship. sanctuaries and 2,500 Christian/traditional education centers. During the same period, more than 59,000 square kilometers of land belonging to Christians and non-Muslims were reclaimed and its inhabitants displaced and evicted.
The report cites domestic and international sources to claim that the Boko Haram group and its affiliates were responsible for the kidnapping and disappearance of at least 22,500 mostly unarmed Christians between 2009 and 2014, during which time they also recklessly demolished or burned 13,000 churches. and 1,500 Christian schools, and forced more than 1.3 million others to leave to avoid being killed or forced into Islam.
“Between 2016 and 2023; Over an eight-year period, more than 30,000 defenseless civilians were kidnapped by Islamic jihadists and, some say, ‘Islamic-inspired’ security forces in Nigeria,” the report said.
According to the International Alliance Against Genocide, Nigeria is on the list of fourteen ongoing genocides in the world.
Umeagbalasi said Node that the government of Muhammadu Buhari (2015-2023) and even the government of Bola Tinubu – which took office in 2023 – as well as the Nigerian security forces have been complicit in the killing of Christians in Nigeria.
“This government is no different from the Buhari government,” he said.
The report underlines this even more forcefully.
“The most shocking part of all this is that the jihadist Fulani herdsmen operate freely and unchallenged, with impunity and reckless abandon; with the Nigerian Security Forces (NSF), widely accused of being “Islamic-inspired,” turning a blind eye or looking the other way; except when it comes to the protection of Fulani cows and their breeders; or arrest members of victim communities and their leaders; calling them “bandits,” the report said.
Emeka said there was a “silent genocide” in Nigeria.
“If you look at the definition of genocide, you find that genocide is already underway in Nigeria: an anti-Christian genocide,” he said. Node.
