Nigeria continues to grapple with a multifaceted security crisis, characterized by widespread violence, particularly targeting religious communities. Over a four-year period, 55,910 people were killed in 9,970 attacks, while 21,621 individuals were abducted in 2,705 incidents.
According to a new investigative report released on Thursday by The Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA), the data covers the period from October 1, 2019, to September 30, 2023, offering critical insights into the patterns and dynamics of these violent attacks.
ORFA, which monitors religious freedom, documents rights violations, and advocates for informed decision-making, expressed concern that Nigerian citizens were killed by insurgents while terror groups operated with relative impunity, as military efforts focused on targets hundreds of miles away.
The report documented 11,610 distinct attacks where people were either killed or abducted. Of these, 8,905 involved killings without abductions, 1,065 involved both killings and abductions, and 1,640 involved abductions without killings.
This averages out to eight attacks per day involving killings and/or abductions over the four-year period, encompassing incidents where civilians, security forces, and/or terror groups were either killed or abducted.
“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. In total 30,880 civilians were killed in 6,942 attacks. The remaining 25,030 people killed were members of the Security Forces or Terror Groups. Additionally, 21,532 civilians were abducted in 2,670 attacks. Another 89 people abducted were members of the Security Forces or Terror Groups.
“There were frequent clashes between Security Forces and Terror Groups and between Terror Groups themselves. This had impact on civilians too. In 3,028 attacks (out of the 9,970 attacks with killings) only non-civilians were killed: 4,377 were members of the Security Forces and 19,323 members of Terror Groups. In 35 attacks (out of the 2,705 attacks with abductions) only non-civilians were abducted: 68 belonging to the Security Forces and 2 to Terror Groups.”
The data revealed that Nigerian Christians were disproportionately affected by violence compared to those of other religious affiliations during the four-year reporting period.
Out of the 30,880 civilians killed, 16,769 were Christians, while 6,235 were Muslims. Among the 21,532 civilians abducted, 11,185 were Christians, and 7,899 were Muslims.
Additionally, 154 adherents of African Traditional Religions (ATRs) were killed, and 184 were abducted. The religious identity of 7,722 civilians killed and 2,264 civilians abducted remained unidentified.
The report highlighted a significant disparity in the ratio of Christians to Muslims killed, which stood at 2.7:1 overall and 1.4:1 for abductions. However, when adjusted for the religious composition of different states, these ratios increased dramatically to 6.5:1 for killings and 5.1:1 for abductions.
ORFA’s report also noted that only a small fraction of the civilian casualties during this period were attributed to ISIS or al-Qaeda affiliates.
“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 the organisation’s Data Scientist Frans Vierhout, was titled, “Blind eyes to bloodshed: FulaniEthnic Militia killing Nigerian civilians unopposed.”
According to the statement, the mass killings perpetrated by the terrorists in Nigerian communities are the outcome of a new study covering a period of four years between October 1, 2019 – September 30, 2023.
The details of the mass killings which were made public in a statement on Thursday further read; “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.