The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) has said that Nigeria has become the second deadliest Genocide-Country in the world accounting for more than 150,000 religiously motivated defenseless civilian deaths since 2009, 15 years of Boko Haram Jihadist uprising in Nigeria.
The group, said that 1,450 Christians were killed in Benue, 1,400 in Plateau, 822 in Kaduna, 730 in Niger in 2023.
Intersociety said that over 8,400 Christians were abducted in 2023 and 840 never returned alive from captivity, while Military, Police abducted 800 in 2023 in the South-East who never returned alive till date.
The Chairman of Intersociety Mr. Emeka Umeagbalasi in a statement, said Nigeria’s alarming death toll is only surpassed by the battered State of Syria, which has been embroiled in devastating civil war since 2011 with civilian deaths of 306,000 out of about 21.5m citizens.
” The Nigerian death toll would have been more than five times higher than those of Syria if the country had engaged in open genocidal warfare-with over 200m citizens. The massacre of Christians in Nigeria is now dubbed “Silent Genocide” or “Jihadist Genocide of Christians”. Killings and associated grisly and egregious violence against persons or groups and properties of international coloration; perpetrated on the grounds of ethnicity and religion, accounted for over 150,000 defenseless civilian deaths since 2009, leading to burning down or wanton destruction of tens of thousands of civilian dwelling houses, over 18,500 sacred places of christian worship, 1000 traditional religious sanctuaries and 2,500 Christian/Traditional Learning Centres during which over 59,000 square kilometers of landmass (twice the size of South-East Nigeria) ancestrally belonging to indigenous Christians and non Muslim others were seized and their owners uprooted and sacked in at least ten States.
“The over 150,000 religiously related deaths in Nigeria in 15 years had included direct deaths of at least 100,000, and indirect deaths of 50,000. Among the over 50,000 indirect deaths were those abducted and killed in captivity by various Islamic Jihadists; classified as victims of the enforced disappearances. In Law and Criminology, ‘Enforced Disappearances’ and ‘Torture’ have no excuses or exonerative defenses at perpetration and can be perpetrated by state actors or non state actors or someone or individuals sanctioned by a state actor or state actors.
“According to available local and international statistics, Boko Haram and allied others have been responsible for abduction and disappearance of at least 22,500 mainly defenseless Christians between 2009 and 2014, during which they also wantonly destroyed or burned down 13,000 churches and 1500 Christian schools, directly killed between 11,500 and 12,500 Christians and forced over 1.3m others to flee to avoid being hacked to death or forcefully converted to Islam” (Ms. Anne Mulder and Open Doors USA: 2015).
“Between 2016 and 2023; a period of eight years, more than 30,000 defenseless civilians were abducted by Islamic Jihadists and, some say, ‘Islamic-inspired’ security forces in Nigeria. The abducted over 30,000 never returned alive till date. In all, Christians accounted for roughly 100,000 of the ‘direct deaths’ and ‘indirect deaths’ of the over 50,000, while moderate Muslims accounted for about 46,000 and members of other religions accounted for the remaining 4,000 defenseless civilian deaths.
“In January 2024 alone, at least 200 defenseless Christians were slaughtered across Nigeria including more than 50 deaths recorded in Plateau State. The 2023 anti Christian killings had occurred in not less than 1000 crime scene attacks during which not less than 500 Churches and estimated 200 Traditional Religious Sanctuaries were ferociously attacked, burned down or wantonly destroyed or violently shut down.
“The no fewer than 500 attacked churches were also gravely threatened and forced to be deserted. In Bokkos County of Plateau State alone, not less than 25 churches have been affected since the December 23, 2023 attacks and 102 communal Christian villages sacked and over 1300 Christian houses razed. Not less than 300-400 Christian communities in Plateau State have been uprooted and sacked by Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen in recent years’ attacks including burning or wanton destruction of over 10,000 Christian homes by Government-protected Fulani Jihadists assembled from Bauchi, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Zamfara, Borno, etc.
“Many of the Plateau Christian villages uprooted and sacked by Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen have been renamed including: Rankum (renamed Mahanga), Fass in Riyom (renamed Tafawa), Gwoi in Barkin Ladi (renamed Lugere), Fit ma Bucher (renamed Magaraje), Farandong Hai (renamed Josho) and Horop Mushere (renamed Dajin Gwamna) all in Bokkos; all of which currently serve as staging grounds for more Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen attacks in Plateau state.
“The attacks on defenseless Nigerian Christians in the past 13 months (Jan 2023-Jan 2024) also led to the burning down or wanton destruction of more than 20,000 Christian houses and uprooting and sacking of no fewer than 500 Christian communities in the ten worst hit States of Plateau, Benue, Southern Kaduna and other Christian parts of the State; Niger, Taraba, Borno, Yobe, Adawama, Kebbi, FCT, Kogi and Enugu State where over 22 communities have been attacked or threatened with Jihadist Herdsmen and Fulani Nomad militia attacks.
“As a matter of extreme urgency, for the appointment of the UN Secretary General’s Special Emergency Envoy on Nigeria and UN Security Council Resolution authorizing comprehensive UN-backed Commission of Inquiry or International Investigation into systematic and well coordinated ethno-religious attacks by Government-protected Islamic Jihadists on defenseless Christians and others and their sacred places of worship and learning, dwelling houses and means of livelihood (.i.e. farmlands) and associated displacements, depopulation, forced migrations, evictions, lootings and dispossessions; all arising from murders, attempted murders, abductions, enforced disappearances, torture, sexual violence, forced faith conversions, burning and destruction of symbols of worship, etc.
” All of the above have been found to have violated the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their protocols and other international human rights and humanitarian laws or conventions” Umeagbalasi stated.
