A new study has revealed that at least 55,910 people were killed and 21,000 others abducted by various terror groups across Nigeria over the past four years.
According to The PUNCH, this alarming data, covering the period from October 1, 2019, to September 30, 2023, was shared with the public on Thursday by The Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa.
The report revealed that more Nigerians were kidnapped in 2022 than in previous years.
The report, shared with the public and obtained by journalists in Jos, highlighted that the over 55,000 victims of terror attacks over the past four years included both Muslims and Christians, with Christian fatalities being significantly higher.
ORFA, which monitors religious freedom and documents rights violations, expressed concern that Nigerian citizens were being killed by insurgents while terror groups operated with relative freedom across large regions of the country, often without significant military intervention.
The statement emphasized that only a small fraction of these civilian deaths were caused by ISIS or al-Qaeda affiliates during the four-year period under review.
“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,” the statement by ORFA emphasised.
The statement, signed by ORFA’s Data Scientist Frans Vierhout and titled, ‘Blind Eyes to Bloodshed: Fulani Ethnic Militia Killing Nigerian Civilians Unopposed’, sheds light on the mass killings carried out by terrorists in Nigerian communities.
This violence is detailed in a new study covering the four-year period from October 1, 2019, to September 30, 2023.
The statement, made public on Thursday, further elaborates on the findings, “Mass killings, abductions, and torture of whole families go largely unchallenged as military pursue targets hundreds of miles away, finds four-year data project.”
“Islamist extremists enjoy relative freedom to carry out atrocities against civilians in large regions of Nigeria, according to data scientists behind a four-year study.
“Researchers at the Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa recorded over 55,000 killings and mapped thousands of farm massacres and mass abductions in a four-year period, including in Nigeria’s fragile North Central Zone and Southern Kaduna.”
“A little-known terror group, the Fulani Ethnic Militia or FEM, commit mass killings hundreds of times a year through this region,” it reported.
The statement specifically noted that 55,910 people were killed in the context of terror groups in Nigeria within the four-year of study.
Continuing, it disclosed, “In the North Central zone alone, 3,007 incidents of extreme violence occurred. 2,010 incidents involved killings, 700 were abduction incidents, and 297 were a combination of killings and abductions.
“Now data mapping has revealed security operations are concentrated in the North-East and North-West of Nigeria, hundreds of miles from the scenes of FEM atrocities.
“Across the North-Central zone and Southern Kaduna – where hundreds of FEM atrocities occur – there is markedly little security engagement at the scene of attacks.
“Millions of people are left undefended,” notes Frans Vierhout, Senior Analyst at The Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa.
“For years, we’ve heard of calls for help being ignored, as terrorists attack vulnerable communities,” Vierhout pointed out.
The statement revealed more that one of the key findings in the four-year study was that “The little-known Fulani Ethnic Militia killed at least 42 per cent of all civilians, while Boko Haram and ISWAP (‘Islamic State West Africa Province) combined killed 10 per cent.
“The Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM), an ethno-religious terror group, are considered by many security experts to be a ‘twin’ of Islamists killing and kidnapping civilians in Northern Nigeria land-based community attacks form the largest category of civilian killings (81%).
“FEM invaded small Christian farming settlements to kill, rape, abduct, and burn homes, just as 2.7 Christians were killed for every Muslim in the reporting period.
“Proportional loss: in states where attacks occur, proportional loss to Christian communities is exceptionally high. In terms of state populations, 6.5 times as many Christians are being murdered as Muslims
“Abduction: hallmark of Islamist terror
“The ORFA data project also reveals the widening reach of Islamist kidnapping in Nigeria, with incidents escalating through the four years: 2020 (1,665 people abducted)
“In the year 2021 (5,907 people abducted) 2022 (7,705 people abducted) and 2023 (6,255 people abducted). Christians are 1.4 times more likely to be abducted than Muslims.
“In terms of state populations, proportional loss of Christians is higher: around 5.1 Christians are abducted for every Muslim in terms of local populations.‘Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM) are targeting Christian populations, while Muslims also suffer severely at their hands,’ notes Rev. Dr. Gideon Para-Mallam, partner to ORFA and analyst.
“Kidnappers work to Islamist goals. Where young women are kidnapped, tortured, and sexually violated, hope for normal married life and family may vanish.”
By the end of 2023, “The International Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) reported 3.3 million Nigerians were forcibly displaced from their homes and surviving in makeshift camps.”
The authors of the ORFA data project called on the international community to closely examine the data and take further action to fully grasp the magnitude of the challenges facing Nigeria.
