Three new reports confirm the rising tide of violence against Christians in Nigeria and suggest that more Christians are being killed there than anywhere else in the world.
According to the latest report by Nigerian NGO Intersociety, in the four months from January to April 2021 Nigeria ‘lost no fewer than 1,470 Christians … the highest number recorded since 2014’.
And reports just published by both the US State Department and the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) single out Nigeria as a ‘country of particular concern for tolerating severe violations of religious freedom’.
Intersociety calculate that 2,200 Nigerian Christians were abducted by jihadists between January and April this year. Of those, 220 are believed to have been murdered. It also says Fulani militants killed more than 800 Christians, in a conflict often simplistically characterised as clashes over resources between herders and farmers, accusing the government of Nigeria of concealing the jihadist agenda.
Release International, in concert with many British parliamentarians and the US State Department, has long pointed out a religious dimension behind the growing violence against Nigerian Christians.
According to the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom of Belief, Fulani militants have adopted ‘a comparable strategy to Boko Haram and Islamic State, and demonstrated a clear intent to target Christians and potent symbols of Christian identity’.
Release International CEO, Paul Robinson, says: ‘This research reinforces our long-held position, that the world must wake up to what is happening in Nigeria.
‘Boko Haram has publicly declared war on Christians and stated its aim to Islamise the whole of Nigeria. Fulani militants are killing even more Christians than Boko Haram fighters, and appear to be serving the same agenda. The plain fact is that the Nigerian Government is simply not doing enough to protect its Christian minority in the North against attack from religious extremists.’
