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Over 50,000 Christians Killed in Nigeria Since 2009 Islamic Uprising: Intersociety Report

Credit: Intersociety

Thousands of Christians have been killed in Nigeria since the Islamist uprising began in 2009, a recent investigation has established, further revealing that “1,041 defenseless Christians” were put to death in the first 100 days of 2023.

The latest report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) indicates, “Since the 2009 Islamic uprising, 52,250 Christians and 34,000 moderate Muslims have been butchered or hacked to death.”

“30,250 of those have been killed since 2015, when President Muhhamadu Buhari came to power,” authors of the report by the Intersociety, a 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, say.

According to the report by the human rights group that does research and investigation by direct contacts with the victims, eyewitnesses, media tracking, review of credible local and international reports, interviews and closed sources among other methods, thousands of Christian deaths are attributed to “Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen”. 

“The 52,250 Christian deaths in Nigeria in fourteen years recorded addition of 9,250 Christian deaths from the July 2021 figure of 43,000; out of which, Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen accounted for 6,000 Christian deaths and security forces, Jihadist Fulani Bandits, BH, ISWAP, Ansaru and others 3,250,” the report released on Tuesday, April 11, indicates.  

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“Buhari’s radical Islamism since 2015 had killed 30,250 Christians and attacked 18,000 churches and 2,200 Christian schools,” the authors of the report say, and add that since 2009, “14 million Christians have been uprooted and forced to flee their homes and 800 Christian communities attacked”.

Authors of the Intersociety report say that “Christians of Benue, Kaduna, Plateau, Taraba, Niger, Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Kebbi worst affected in the attacks,” and that Christians living in Eastern Nigeria have been “worst hit in Nigerian military killings and property destructions on ethno-religious grounds.”

“Hypocrisies of Nigerian Christian leaders may turn church buildings into Turkish church monuments in 50 years’ time,” the authors of the report further say, adding, “Progenitors of Christian converts were more protected during the Oracular Period under Pre-Christian Papacy than present.”

In the 2023 investigation, Intersociety researchers found that “no fewer than 1,041 defenseless Christians were hacked to death by Nigeria’s Jihadists in the first 100 days of 2023 or 1st Jan to 10th April 2023.”

Their investigations established that “not less than 380 Christians were slaughtered by Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen in 100 days in Benue, 102 in Kaduna, 150 in Christian parts of Niger State (Paikoro, Munya, Shiroro, Rafi, etc), 100 deaths in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa by BH/ISWAP); 32 Christian deaths in Plateau, 20 in Ondo, 11 in Edo, 10 in Delta as well as Kebbi 10 deaths, Bauchi 9 deaths, Taraba 14 deaths, Katsina 10 deaths, Enugu 6 deaths; and 60 deaths arising from the military killings in the East since Jan 2023 and others 50 deaths.”

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“Also, no fewer than 707 Christians were abducted within the same period; out of which Niger State recorded more than 200 abductions including 14th March 2023 abduction of over 100 Christians in Adunu (Paikoro),” the Intersociety researchers say in the report signed by their Board Chair & Lead-Researcher, Emeka Umeagbalasi.

They continue to report that “no fewer than 101 anti-Christian abductions were recorded in Kaduna while other affected States are Katsina, Taraba, Edo, Ogun, Nassarawa, Kwara, Kogi, Borno, Yobe and Adawama (about 60 abductions by BH/ISWAP), Bauchi, Enugu, Imo, Kebbi, Gombe, Bayelsa and Cross River.”

The entity that is comprised of human rights researchers further reports that “no fewer than 50 million Christians majority of them in Northern Nigeria are facing serious threats from Jihadists for being professed Christians; out of which not less than fourteen million have been uprooted and eight million forced to flee their homes to avoid being hacked to death.”

The researchers of the human rights group observe that “Nigerian Christian leaders have abandoned their spiritual calling as defenders of faith and protectors of their faith members and are deeply engrossed in the pursuit of crude material wealth.”

They warn that “if extreme care is not taken to rescue the Christendom and the Church, the churches or church buildings in Nigeria will become the present-day Turkish church monuments in fifty years’ time or less than that.”

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The latest Intersociety report also makes reference to its 2022 report, saying, “5,068 Christians (were) hacked to death in 2022 and hundreds disappeared without trace.” 

The organization “emotionally” dedicates its investigative report to “1,041 slain and disappeared victims of the Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen and other Jihadists’ genocidal attacks carried out across Nigeria in the first 100 days of 2023.”

Jude Atemanke is a Cameroonian journalist with a passion for Catholic Church communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Buea in Cameroon. Currently, Jude serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.