A new investigative report released by The Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa on Thursday has revealed that 55,910 people have been killed in 9,970 attacks, while 21,621 people were abducted in 2,705 incidents over the past four years in Nigeria.
The report covers the period from October 1, 2019, to September 30, 2023, and provides important insights into the patterns and dynamics of violent attacks in the country.
ORFA, an organization that monitors religious freedom and documents rights violations, expressed concern that Nigerian citizens are being targeted by insurgents while terror groups operate freely in many areas.
According to ORFA, the military is often pursuing targets far from where the atrocities against civilians are taking place.
“Many civilians lived in high levels of insecurity and fear of the unexpected. For instance, eye witnesses talked about children sleeping in trees at night,” the report stated. It also noted that, in total, 30,880 civilians were killed in 6,942 attacks, while 25,030 people killed were members of the security forces or terror groups. Additionally, 21,532 civilians were abducted in 2,670 attacks.
The report highlighted the significant impact on religious communities, with more Nigerian Christians being victims of violence than those of other religious affiliations. Among the 30,880 civilians killed, 16,769 were Christians, while 6,235 were Muslims. The number of Christians abducted was 11,185, compared to 7,899 Muslims.
“The ratio of Christians to Muslims killed rose significantly when the religious composition of the states is taken into consideration,” the report noted. When adjusting for the relative sizes of Christian and Muslim populations in different states, the ratio of Christians to Muslims killed increases to 6.5:1, and the ratio of Christians to Muslims abducted to 5.1:1.
The statement released by ORFA also emphasized that only a small portion of civilians were killed by ISIS or al-Qaeda affiliates during the four-year period. “Across the country, over 11,000 incidents of extreme violence took place during the data period, with more than 55,000 killings and 21,000 abductions,” ORFA stated.
Frans Vierhout, a data scientist with ORFA, signed the statement, which was titled “Blind eyes to bloodshed: Fulani Ethnic Militia killing Nigerian civilians unopposed.” The statement described how mass killings, abductions, and torture of entire families often go unchallenged as the military focuses on targets far from the affected areas.
“A little-known terror group, the Fulani Ethnic Militia or FEM, commit mass killings hundreds of times a year through this region,” the report revealed, pointing to the group’s significant role in the ongoing violence in Nigeria’s North Central Zone and Southern Kaduna.
