Groups rolls out chilling reports, say over 55,910 civilians killed in Nigeria in four years, 3.3 million others displaced in 2023t

In blood-cuddling reports on the lingering Nigerian security crisis, two international rights groups, the Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA) and the International Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), have outlined how over 55,910 civilians were killed in Nigeria in the four years between October 2019 and September 2023, while 3.3million others were displaced in 2023 alone.

In a press statement issued on Thursday (today, August 29) and distributed to newsmen in Abuja, the FCT, Frans Vierhout, the Data Scientist at ORFA, attributed the key driving force behind the disturbing statistics to the ravaging violence of suspected Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM) in the country.

The research highlighted the escalating violence, particularly in the North Central Zone and Southern Kaduna, where widespread mass killings, abductions and family torture were reported to occur rather routinely within the period under review with minimal intervention from security forces.

Vierhout expressed concern that data from the years of research has indicated that FEM’s violent activities are predominantly concentrated in the North Central Zone and Southern Kaduna areas, where folks have suffered significantly from the attacks while military resources are concentrated in the North-East and North-West of Nigeria, hundreds of kilometers from the scenes of the FEM atrocities.

“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 report revealed the grim statistics.

“The Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM) killed at least 42% of all civilians, while Boko Haram and ISWAP (‘Islamic State West Africa Province’) combined killed 10%. 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. Land-based community attacks form the largest category of civilian killings (81%).

“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.”

Vierhout pointed out that the ORFA data project also uncovered a troubling trend of abductions across Nigeria, with incidents rising during the four-year period.

According to him, statistics indicate that “1,665 people were abducted in 2020, 5,907 in 2021, 7,705 in 2022, and 6,255 in 2023.”

The data further 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 underscores the targeted nature of these kidnappings, especially by the Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM), which often focuses on Christian communities. It also reveals that analysts like Rev. Dr. Gideon Para-Mallam recognizes this as a component of a larger strategy to destabilize and terrorize vulnerable groups,” he stated

The statement further indicated 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.

The Data Scientist maintained that the report underscores the alarming trend of mass violence that has largely gone unchallenged as security agencies focus on remote targets rather than addressing the immediate needs of local communities.

The report, therefore, called on the international community to pay close attention to the alarming findings, emphasizing the critical need for increased global involvement in combating the trend of human rights violations, illustrating a narrative of “besieged communities and government indecision.”