By Lisa Zengarini Over 50,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria since the outbreak of the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency in 200...
By Lisa Zengarini
Over 50,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria since the
outbreak of the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency in 2009, a newly-released report
published by a Nigerian non-governmental organization has revealed.
The report, titled “Martyred Christians in Nigeria”, has
been published by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law
(Intersociety), a Nigerian-based research and investigative rights group, which
has been monitoring and investigating religious persecution and other forms of
religious violence by State and non-State actors across Nigeria since 2010.
52,250 Nigerian
Christians murdered since 2009
According to its findings, over the past 14 years at least
52,250 Nigerian Christians have been brutally murdered at the hands of Islamist
militants, more than 30,000 of whom during the eight-year presidency of former
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, often criticized during his tenure for not
doing enough to combat growing insecurity in the country.
18,000 churches set
on fire
In the same period 18,000 Christian churches and 2,200
Christian schools were set ablaze. Approximately 34,000 moderate Muslims also
died in Islamist attacks.
The outlook for 2023 does not seem any better, with over
1,000 Christians killed since the beginning of the year.
Within the same period, at least 707 Christians were
kidnapped, out of which the Northern Nigerian Niger State recorded more than
200 abductions, including 14 March 2023 abduction of over 100 Christians in
Adunu (Paikoro). At least 101 anti-Christian abductions were recorded in Kaduna
while other affected States include Katsina, Taraba, Edo, Ogun, Nassarawa,
Kwara, Kogi, Borno, Yobe and Adawama Bauchi, Enugu, Imo, Kebbi, Gombe, Bayelsa
and Cross River.
Boko Haram and Fulani
Muslim herders
Christians risk their lives not only at the hands of Boko
Haram, but also of ethnic Fulani Muslim
herders who have joined Islamist extremist groups.
The attacks have led to mass forcible displacement. About 5
million Christians have been displaced and forced into Internally Displaced
Persons (IDP) camps within Nigeria and refugee camps at regional and
sub-regional borders, the Intersociety report says.
Open Doors' and ACN's
reports
The Intersociety report confirms that Nigeria has become one
of the most dangerous places to live for Christians in Africa.
This was also stated in the 2023 Watch List released in
January by Open Doors, the
interdenominational foundation that supports persecuted Christians in the
world. According to that report, Nigeria accounts for 89% of Christians
martyred worldwide.
Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has also given voice to the thousands of
Christians persecuted for their faith in Nigeria. In its latest annual report
the Pontifical Foundation supporting the Catholic faithful and other Christians
where they are persecuted, reported that more than 7,600 Nigerian Christians
were murdered between January 2021 and June 2022.
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