55,910 deaths were recorded in Nigeria during a comprehensive four-year study from October 2019 to September 2023, a report by researchers from the Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA) have said.
OFRA, operating under the aegis of Foundation Platform for Social Transformation, is committed to monitoring religious freedoms and documenting violations of rights across Nigeria.
The report also reveals that peace advocates like Rev. Dr. Gideon Para-Mallam recognize this as a component of a larger strategy to destabilize and terrorize vulnerable groups.
The research highlights the escalating violence particularly in the North Central Zone and Southern Kaduna, where widespread mass killings, abductions, and family torture are reported to occur with minimal intervention from security forces.
The report, according to a statement on Thursday by Frans Vierhout, a Data Scientist at ORFA, identified the Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM) as a key perpetrator of violence in Nigeria.
The report followed the alarming trend of mass violence as security agencies focus on remote targets rather than addressing the immediate needs of local communities.
The data shows that FEM’s violent activities are predominantly concentrated in the North Central Zone and Southern Kaduna areas that have suffered significantly from their attacks.
The report says military resources are concentrated in the North-East and North-West of Nigeria, 100 miles from the scenes of the FEM atrocities.
The statement said, “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. In the North Central zone alone, 3,007 incidents of extreme violence occurred. 2,010 incidents involved killings, 700 were abduction incidents, and 297 were a combination of killings and abductions.”
“The Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM) killed at least 42 per cent of all civilians, while Boko Haram and ISWAP (‘Islamic State West Africa Province’) combined killed 10.per cent . FEM, an ethno-religious terror group, are considered by many security experts to be a ‘twin’ of Islamists killing and kidnapping civilians in Northern Nigeria. Land-based community attacks form the largest category of civilian killings (81 per cent).
“FEM invade small Christian farming settlements to kill, rape, abduct, and burn homes. 2.7 Christians were killed for every Muslim in the reporting period. Islamist extremists kill both Muslims and Christians. Although Christian death tolls are far higher. Proportional loss: In states where attacks occur, proportional loss to Christian communities is exceptionally high. In terms of state populations, 6.5 times as many Christians are being murdered as Muslims.”
The report also said that the ORFA data project also uncovered a troubling trend in abductions across Nigeria, with incidents rising during the four-year period.
The statistics indicated that 1,665 people were abducted in 2020, 5,907 in 2021, 7,705 in 2022, and 6,255 in 2023.
Furthermore, the data shows Christians are 1.4 times more likely to be abducted than Muslims, with an estimated 5.1 Christians abducted for every Muslim within local populations.
This pattern, the research said, underscores the targeted nature of these kidnappings, especially by the Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM), which often focuses on Christian communities.
The statement also noted that, by the end of 2023, the International Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) reported that 3.3 million Nigerians were forcibly displaced from their homes, surviving in makeshift camps.
Friday Olokor
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