A new report by the Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA) has disclosed that over 55,910 civilians have been killed by different incidents in Nigeria in the past four years,
The figures were released on Thursday in a statement released by the organization. It was disclosed that the organization investigated the figures from October 2019 to September 2023.
According to the report, over 11,000 incidents of extreme violence and 21,000 abductions have taken place in the country during the period under study.
The study disclosed that Nigerian military resources are predominantly concentrated in the northeast and northwest. At the same time, disclosing that the Fulani ethnic militia (FEM) has been operating in the North Central states of the federation.
The data showed that 11,000 incidents of extreme violence have resulted in the death of 55,000 killings, while 21,000 persons have been abducted in the country in the past years, with the incidents taking place in different states of the federation.
The data revealed that the North Central had, in the past four years, experienced a high level of violence, with 3,007 cases of extreme violence happening in the region. The region, according to the data, had experienced a total of 2,010 cases that involved the killing of innocent people; 700 cases were related to the abduction of people in the region, while 297 were a combination of killings and abductions.
The data showed that the Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM) had killed 42% of all civilians in the country. In comparison, the Boko Haram and ISWAP (‘Islamic State West Africa Province) combined killings have resulted in the death of 10%.
The Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM) has been seen as a group terrorising the residents. Some security experts have seen them as an ethnoreligious terror group; they have been involved in the active activity of kidnapping and killing of people in the country, especially in northern Nigeria. They were said to have been responsible for land-based attacks and the killing of civilians.
It was stated that the group had specialized in invading small Christian settlements and committing criminal offences such as rape, abducting, and burning homes. The data show that 2.7 Christians were killed for every Muslim in the reporting period. The report disclosed that the Islamists killed both Muslims and Christians.
According to the report, Christian death tolls are far higher in every case, with a loss in the states where attacks took place. According to the report, 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 showed that Christian folks were at a higher risk of being abducted by criminals than the Muslim faithful. It was disclosed that the data shows how the christain folks were targeted by the terror groups especially the Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM), whose major targets were the christain communities.
Rev. Dr Gideon Para-Mallam, analysis disclosed that the move was used to destabilise and terrorise vulnerable groups in the country.
