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A new research has revealed that no fewer than 55,910 persons were reportedly killed and 21,000 others kidnapped by some terrorist groups in four years in different parts of Nigeria.
The research, which was conducted for a period of four years between October 1, 2019 and September 30, 2023, indicated that more Nigerians were kidnapped mostly in 2022.
The outcome of the four-year research is contained in a statement by the Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA) that has been made public.
The statement signed by the organisation’s Data Scientist Frans Vierhout, is titled, 'Blind Eyes to Bloodshed: Fulani Ethnic Militias Killing Nigerian Civilians Unopposed.'
The study highlighted that the death toll cut across both Muslims and Christians but Christians deaths were far higher in number.
The ORFA, which monitors the state of religious freedom, documents rights violations, and informs decision makers through advocacy, lamented that Nigerian citizens were killed by the insurgents while the terror groups enjoyed relative freedom to carry out their atrocities against civilians in large regions of Nigeria.
The advocacy group noted that only a fraction of civilians were killed by ISIS or al-Qaeda affiliates in the period under review.
The report read in part, "Across the country, over 11,000 incidents of extreme violence took place during the research period, with more than 55,000 killings and 21,000 abductions.
“Mass killings, abductions and torture of many families went largely unchallenged as military pursued targets hundreds of miles away.
“Islamist extremists enjoyed relative freedom to carry out atrocities against civilians in large regions of Nigeria."
Data scientists behind the four-year study, indicated, “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 (FEM), committed mass killings, hundreds of times a year through the region.”
The statement specifically noted that 55,910 people were killed in the context of terror groups in Nigeria within the four-year of study.
It further indicated, “In the North Central zone alone, 3,007 incidents of extreme violence occurred. 2,010 incidents involved killings, 700 were abductions, 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's atrocities.
“Across the North-Central zone and Southern Kaduna – where hundreds of FEM atrocities occured – there was markedly little security engagement at the scene of attacks."
Frans Vierhout, Senior Analyst at The Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa, noted that millions of people were left undefended.
“For years, we heard of calls for help being ignored, as terrorists attacked 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, is considered by many security experts to be a ‘twin’ of Islamists killing and kidnapping civilians in Northern Nigeria's 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 occured, proportional loss to Christian communities was exceptionally high. In terms of state populations, 6.5 times as many Christians were being murdered as Muslims.
“The ORFA data project also revealed the widening reach of Islamists 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 was higher: around 5.1 Christians were abducted for every Muslim in terms of local populations."
An analyst and partner to ORFA, Rev. (Dr.) Gideon Para-Mallam, said FEM was targeting Christian populations, while Muslims also suffered severely in their hands.
Para-Mallam said, “Kidnappers work towards Islamist goals. Where young women are kidnapped, tortured, and sexually violated, hope for normal married life and family may vanish.”
At the end of 2023, the International Displacement Monitoring Centre IDMC reported that 3.3 million Nigerians were forcibly displaced from their homes and surviving in makeshift camps.
