An estimated 3,462 Nigerian Christians have been killed
this year by Nigerian Jihadists, Fulani herdsmen and state actors up
till 18 July. The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law gave this grim report today. According to the report, Benue and Kaduna have recorded the most deaths in the last six months.
āBenue State recorded the highest number of Christian deaths in the
past 200 days with 450 and had recorded 200 deaths in Jan to April and
250 from May to 18th July. āKaduna State came second with 410 Christian deaths and had recorded 300 deaths in Jan to April and 110 from May to 18th July; āTaraba State came third with 240 deathsā, the report said.
The authors also blamed the genocide going on in Zamfara, Kaduna and most parts of the North west to āmuslim Fulani banditsā. The report comes with citations about the places of the killings. The group based in Onitsha Anambra has been tracking such killings in the past.
Read the full report:
Intersociety, Nigeria: Sunday, July 18, 2021: The number of
defenceless Christians hacked to death by Nigeriaās Islamic Jihadists
and their collaborators in the security forces in the past 200 days or
1st January to 18th July 2021 has risen to no fewer than 3, 462 and this
is just sixty-eight deaths less than the total deaths of Nigerian
Christians in 2020 which the Open Doorsā World Watch List of Persecuted
Christians put at ā3,530ā.
This number further represents daily average Christian deaths of
seventeen and second highest since 2014 when over 5000 Christian deaths
were recorded in the hands of Boko Haram and Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen.
While Boko Haram killed over 4000 Christians in 2014, the Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen accounted for 1,229 Christian deaths.
In our last report issued on 11th May 2021, covering January to April
2021, we found that no fewer than 1,470 Christians were hacked to death
and in the past 80 days or 1st May to 18th July 2021, not less than 1,
992 Christian lives have been lost. We also found that no fewer than 780
additional Christians were abducted in 80 days or 1st May to 18thJuly
whereas between 1st January and 30th April, 2200 were abducted. This
brings the total number of the abducted Christians since January to
3000, out of which at least three out of every abducted thirty
Christians were most likely to have died in captivity; thereby
indicating additional secret death in jihadistsā captivity of 300
Christians. Additional deaths of 150 is also added to represent ādark
figuresā or deaths that occurred but not reported or recorded
The number of Churches threatened or attacked and closed or destroyed
or burnt since January 2021 is also estimated to be around 300 with at
least ten priests or pastors abducted or killed by the jihadists. Taraba
State was discovered to be the most affected with at least seventy
churches threatened or attacked and closed or burnt or destroyed. For
purpose of setting the record straight, therefore, the International
Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law is a research and
investigative rights group which has been monitoring and investigating
religious persecution and other forms of religious violence by state and
non state actors across Nigeria since 2010. This, we do through the use
of direct contacts with the victims, eyewitnesses, media tracking,
review of credible local and international reports, interviews and
closed sources and so on.
Impunity And Complicity Of Nigerian Security Forces: It is deeply
saddening that till date those responsible for the anti Christian
butcheries in the country have continued to evade justice and remained
unchecked, untracked, uninvestigated and untried; leading to impunity
and repeat-atrocities. The surviving victims and families of the dead
victims are also totally abandoned by the Government of Nigeria. The
Nigerian Government has continued to face sharp criticisms and strong
accusations of culpability and complicity in the killings and
supervision of same. The countryās security forces have so fumbled and
compromised that they hardly intervene when the vulnerable Christians
are in danger of threats or attacks, but only emerge after such attacks
to arrest and frame up the same population threatened or attacked. In
the North, the jihadists operate freely under the cover and protection
of the security forces; abducting, killing, looting, destroying or
burning and forcefully converting their captive and unprotected
Christians and their homes and sacred places of worship and learning.
But the same security forces hatefully and brutally respond with utter
ferocity against Southern and Northern Christians are accused of
infraction or offending the law.
Herdsmen Killings Most Widespread, Accounting For 1,909 Deaths: The
Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen are responsible for majority of the killings
with at least 1,909 Christian deaths in 200 days, followed by Boko
Haram, ISWAP and Muslim Fulani Bandits who jointly killed 1,063
Christians, while Nigerian Army, joined by the Nigeria Police Force and
other branches of the Armed Forces accounted for 490 Christian deaths.
The 3,462 Christian deaths include additional 300 deaths representing
Christian deaths arising from deaths in the captivity of the jihadists,
on average of three deaths out of every 30 Christians abducted and
disappeared and another additional deaths of 150 technically
representing ādark figures of crimeā. The killings by the Jihadist
Fulani Herdsmen are also the most widespread cutting across the entire
six geopolitical regions of Nigeria targeting Christian areas of Taraba,
Adamawa and Gombe in the Northeast; Southern Kaduna (Northwest) and
other Christian settlements in the State; Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa and
Kogi in the North-Central; Oyo, Ondo, Ekiti and Ogun in the Southwest;
Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo, Anambra and Abia in the Southeast; and Edo, Delta,
Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Rivers in the South-south.
The Muslim Fulani Bandits, originally formed in Zamfara State in
2011, are jointly responsible for terrors going on in Christian parts of
Southern Kaduna, Niger, FCT, Nasarawa and Kogi States. They are also
responsible for attacks on indigenous Hausa Muslims in Zamfara, Katsina,
Sokoto and Kebbi. In Kebbi State, for instance, the Muslim Fulani
Bandits target and kill or abduct both Christians and Muslims; holding
against their fellow Muslims a jihadist belief that the āindigenous
Hausa Muslims are not pure Muslimsā
The Muslim Fulani Bandits, originally formed in Zamfara State in
2011, are jointly responsible for terrors going on in Christian parts of
Southern Kaduna, Niger, FCT, Nasarawa and Kogi States. They are also
responsible for attacks on indigenous Hausa Muslims in Zamfara, Katsina,
Sokoto and Kebbi. In Kebbi State, for instance, the Muslim Fulani
Bandits target and kill or abduct both Christians and Muslims; holding
against their fellow Muslims a jihadist belief that the āindigenous
Hausa Muslims are not pure Muslimsā; same reasons used in the ferocious
jihadist attacks against their fellow Muslims in Zamfara, Katsina,
Sokoto, and Muslim areas of Kaduna and Niger States.
Boko Haram and
ISWAP, on their part, are majorly responsible for attacks in Borno,
Adamawa, Yobe and Taraba; and have through their recent alliances with
other jihadists, made jihadist inroads and stepped up ferocious and
unchecked attacks in Niger, FCT, Nasarawa, Kebbi and Kaduna, etcā¦.