The Int’l Society for Civil Liberties & Rule of Law is dedicating this 11-page special report on: new wave of anti Christian butcheries in Africa’s Coastal Christian States and Nigeria, to all the victims of anti Christian butcheries and other forms of violence against Christians in Nigeria and beyond the borders of the country. The victims of Nigeria’s anti Christian violence we are dedicating this special report to include the massacred, the maimed, the disfigured, the amputated, the traumatized, the raped, the disappeared, the displaced, the homelenslaved, the converted and the threatened. The special report is also mortally and immortally popularly demanded and fallout of our interactions with the spirits of those who were violently departed on the grounds of their religion and belief as well as firm promises we made to them.
This special report was researched and compiled for Intersociety by Emeka Umeagbalasi, Criminologist & Graduate of Security Studies and Intersociety Board Chair; assisted by Barr Chinwe Umeche, Barr Chidimma Udegbunam, Barr Obianuju Igboeli, Barr Ndidiamaka Chinaza Bernard and Comrade Samuel Kamanyaoku. Intersociety is reachable though +2348174090052, info@intersociety-ng.org and www.intersociety-ng.org. Intersociety has been following the killing of Christians by jihadists in Nigeria or any part thereof including their patterns and trends since 2010 and has graphically done same this year, from the start of Jan to this date, 13th Dec 2020. We have also followed the atrocious and hateful conducts of the Nigerian Army including targeted killing of defenseless civilians on the grounds of their religion and ethnicity since Jan 2020 and since 2015.
Our special report is also in commemoration of this year’s 72 World Human Rights Day, a weeklong global event that officially commenced on Thursday, 10th Dec 2020. The special report, to be published in three phases including this four-page Executive Summary, is a summed up compendium of ‘the new wave of ‘genocidal radical Islamism’, threatening the Africa’s Coastal Christian States particularly the Christian held rainforest regions of Nigeria, a region with not less than 90m Christians. The special report is an eye opener to all and sundry with loaded facts and intellectual ingredients for general global community and the regional and international strategic partners and research institutions.
One of two striking features in the special report is the blacklisting of the Int’l Criminal Court (ICC) and the Government of Nigeria as “remote drivers of the anti Christian butcheries and other forms of violence against Christians in Nigeria”. We have reasoned correctly that ‘had the ICC under Prosecutor Fatou Bom Bensouda, whose nine-year single tenure elapses by June 2021 and Nigerian Government couriered and installed ICC President, Mr. Chile Eboe-Osuji, whose first tenure elapses by April 2021, lived up to their sworn sacred duties as clearly provided in the ICC Statute or Charter, 80%, if not 90% of the 34,400 massacred Christians and estimated 20,000 moderate Muslims’ deaths since 2009/2010, in addition to most of over 17,000 burnt or destroyed churches and 2000 Christian schools would have been secured’. ICC has endlessly since 2010 “commenced investigations on Nigeria”, yet ten years down the line, killing fields and graveyards in the country have increased with rapid speed.
We are therefore shocked and deeply dismayed over provocative excuses given by the outgoing Prosecutor of the Court in her public statement few days ago that her Office delayed from attending to trailer-load of petitions from Nigeria so as “to give the Nigerian Government (a key perpetrator) ample opportunity and time to redress the listed crimes’ classified under ‘Crimes against Humanity’ and ‘War Crimes’. Intersociety has not only lost total faith in the duo but also held that ‘nothing good whatsoever shall come from the outgoing Prosecutor and the outgoing President of the Court’.
This is more so when the Court under them is doing everything possible to impress and shield the present central Government of Nigeria from grisly or ‘industrial scale’ crimes it has committed over the years. Typical example is the Court’s outgoing leadership’s obvious lukewarm attitude towards enlisting Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen in its list of atrocity and heinous crimes perpetrators and more attention paid to Boko Haram. Nigerians and the world may not be surprised to hear from the Court soonest that “it is only investigating or has found merit in the crimes committed by Boko Haram and the Nigerian security agencies from May 2015 and backward or below”.
It is on the basis of the above, therefore, that we are calling for sustained international campaigns and efforts at ensuring the final exit of the duo from the leadership of the Court. In other words, lovers and apostles of justice all over the world must not only ensure that Mr. Chile Eboe-Osuji is not returned in April 2021 as second term President of ICC, but also get a new charismatic and statesmanlike elected as the new President of the Court. Madam Fatou Bom Bensouda, on her part, must no longer be taken serious. As a matter of fact, she should be assisted in packing her luggage out of the ICC Prosecutor’s Office at The Hague. Powerful State-Parties to ICC, including the Great Britain, France, Germany, Netherlands, Brazil, Denmark, Switzerland, Australia, Japan, South Africa and Portugal and powerfully influential watchdogs like Amnesty Int’l and Human Rights Watch and Britain’s eminent activist Parliamentarians, etc are respectfully prayed and called upon to take note.
The second striking feature in our special report is our forensic updates on the number of defenseless Christians killed by the country’s non state actor jihadist groups in 2020 and those killed since 2009. Also captured are defenseless Christians killed by Nigeria’s heavily Muslim controlled or dominated security forces particularly the Nigerian Army. The Nigerian Army is majorly responsible for 200 Christian deaths in 2020 alone and 1,400 since August 2015. Our inclusion of Christians killed by the Army in particular as well as some killed by Police and Air Force followed our careful observation and study of the composition and hateful conducts of the trio particularly by soldiers of the Nigerian Army.
Such hateful killings are targeted at particular citizens of the country on the grounds of their religion and ethnicity. For instance, our assessment of the Obigbo Army Massacre, Emene Army Massacre, Lekki Army Massacre, Takum-Taraba Tiv Christians massacred by the Army in June 2020 and the Oct 2020 EndSARS killings in the Southeast majorly perpetrated by the Army and Police, clearly indicate that the victims were hatefully targeted and hatefully killed or maimed on the grounds of their ethnic and religious backgrounds. Their killers are also found to be selectively composed and lumped along ethno-religious lines hateful of the victims and their ethno-religious backgrounds.
Death Of 2,200 Nigerian Christians In 2020: From Jan 2020 to this 13th Dec 2020, Intersociety has statistically found that as much as or not less than 2,200 Christians are most likely to have been killed in Nigeria and out of this figure, Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen is responsible for as much as or not less than 1,300 Christian deaths, followed by Boko Haram and its splinter groups (ISWAP and Ansaru) with 500 Christian deaths, Nigerian Army 200 Christian deaths and Jihadist “Bandits” 100 Christian deaths. The 500 Christian deaths by Boko Haram and its splinter groups, arrived at using 60% Muslim and 40% Christian casualty calculation or ratio, had arisen from estimated 1,200 defenseless civilians killed by the jihadists from 1st Jan to 13th Dec 2020. In other words, Nigeria in 2020 has lost average of six Christians per day and 180 per month.
It is strongly and circumstantially suspected that the Nigerian security forces particularly the Army, the Police, the Spy Police and the country’s non state actor jihadists have in this 2020 carried out as much as or not less than 100 secret executions, done on the grounds of ethnicity and religion; involving those secretly arrested or abducted and taken into their secret detention facilities or camps manned by the jihadists from where they were likely to have been secretly executed. The addition of this figure therefore brings the total number of defenseless citizens killed this year (2020) on religious and ethnicity grounds by Nigerian security forces and Islamic Jihadists to 2,200. This figure is subject to further updates in the remaining eighteen days of 2020, if the killings are continued.
The targeted and systematic killing of Christians in 2020 by the Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen, leading to as much as or not less than 1,300 Christian deaths had occurred in Southern Kaduna which recorded the highest number with at least 455 Christian deaths, followed by Benue State with 200 deaths, Plateau State 173, Niger State 70, Kogi State 55, Nasarawa State 42, Adamawa State 40, Igbo Land including Igbo parts of Delta and Benue 40, Taraba State 32, Southwest Region about 35, non Igbo parts of Delta 20, Edo State 15 and Bayelsa State 4. The 1,300 Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen massacred Christians include at least 50 abducted Christians, mainly abducted about five months ago in Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen attacks on Christian settlements and farmlands in Kaduna as well as addition of ‘dark figure’ of 70. The “dark figure”, a valid research principle in criminology, represents those Christians killed but went unreported or not documented.
Statistical Instances Of Recent Jihadist Herdsmen Killings
Among the recent killings by the Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen are: Kefas Malachy Bobai, 30years and Miss Takama Paul, 16 years old student, killed on 18th August in Gora Ward, Zagon Kataf Local Government Area (LGA), Kaduna. On 17th August, Bulus Joseph, 48 years, was killed in his farm in Sabon Gida Idon along Kaduna-Kachia Road in Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State. On 16th August, Pastor Adalchi Usman was killed in Kajuru LGA, Kaduna State. Citizens Mariah Na’Allah, Shekari and Ezekiel Maikasa also met their untimely death same day and a driver, Citizen Danlami Dariya was abducted and disappeared. On same 16th August, Christian Village Head of Bugai, near Banikanwa in Kachia LGA, Mr. Dan’azuumi, 67 years of age and his siblings: Aniya Musa, Kande Musa- his 97 years old mother and Angelina Irmiya, his 45 years old younger sister, were also killed.
On 6th Sept, 2020, Rev Alubara Audu, Adamu Tata and Ishaku Peter were killed in Buda Ward, Kajuru LGA in Kaduna State. On 26th Oct, Mr. Kaduna Garba, an Adara Christian native, was killed as well as Citizen Dachomo Alamba, a native of Atyap and five other Christians from same area were all killed by the Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen. On 29th Nov 2020, six Christians were hacked to death by the Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen in Ungwan Bido in Jema’a LGA, Kaduna State and their names were given as: Silas Maman, Malaki Tabat, Geofrey Andrew, Annah Ahmadu, Sunday Tagwah and Fidelis Musa. Houses belonging to Adamu Mangai, Gideon Nuhu, Andrew Adamu and Alphonsus Michael were razed while two children: Rebecca Andrew and Clement Andrew got abducted. On Friday night, 11th Dec 2020, around 11pm, Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen attacked Tse-Angbande Community in Makurdi Local Government Area of Benue State and killed at least four Christians who were members of the same family. Their names were given as: Timothy Emberga Akwa, Innocent Akwa, Terhemba Akwa and an in-law, simply identified as Orban. These instances are just to mention but a few.
Death Of 34,400 Nigerian Christians Since 2009
From the killing of Christians in Nigeria monitored and investigated through open and closed sources by Intersociety in the past ten years or since 2010, the anti Christian killings which majorly started in July 2009 have as at this date, 13th Dec 2020 led to estimated 34,400 Christian deaths. This figure includes 1,400 Christians massacred since August 2015 by the country’s security forces particularly the Army, Police and Air Force. On the other hand, this number did not include over 12,000 Christians who formed over half of internationally estimated 24,000 abducted and disappeared persons who went missing since 2009 same year Boko Haram launched its uprising against Christians and then Government of Nigeria. Boko Haram and its splinter jihadist groups, excluding Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen, have been accused of killing not less than 39,000 defenseless civilians in Nigeria since 2009.
Boko Haram & Ors Have Killed 17,000 Christians Since 2009
Over 17,000 defenseless Christians have been hacked to death since July 2009 by Boko Haram and its splinter groups, out of which, 8,370 were members of the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria, a dominant church in the Boko Haram insurgency affected States of Taraba, Adamawa, Yobe and Borno. The remaining 8,630 slain Christians are spread among other Christian denominations dominant in the Boko Haram insurgency affected areas and among them are Catholics, Anglicans, Pentecostals and members of ECWA and African Instituted Churches. Specifically, Boko Haram jihadists killed estimated 11,400 Christians between July 2009 and Jan 2014 and over 6,200 between Jan 2015 and 13th Dec 2020. In 2020 alone, estimated 500 Christians have been hacked to death by the Jihadist Sect and its splinter groups.
Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen Have Killed 15,500 Christians Since 2010
Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen, on their part, were responsible for death of estimated 6,000 Christians between Jan 2010 and Dec 2014 and between 9,500 between Jan 2015 and 13th Dec 2020; totaling 15,500 Christian deaths in ten years or since 2010. In 2020 alone, Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen have been responsible for death of as much as or not less than 1300 Christians.
Jihadist “Bandits” Have Killed 500 Christians Since 2016
The Jihadist “Bandits” have been responsible for estimated 500 Christian deaths in the past four years or since 2016. In this 2020, not less than 100 Christian deaths have also been recorded in their butchery hands.
Nigerian Army, Police & Air Force Have Killed 1,400 Judeo-Christians Since 2015
The Nigerian security forces particularly the Army, Air Force and Police have killed on religious and ethnicity grounds a total of 1,400 defenseless Judeo-Christians in five years or since August 2015 and among them are not less than 200 shot and killed in 2020 alone. Not less than 800 others were also shot and deadly injured and among them, dozens have been crippled for life.
Possible Secret Execution Of 100 Nigerian Christians In 2020 By Government & Jihadists
From our advocacy observation concerning the hate conducts of the Nigerian security forces, heavily Muslim dominated, it is strongly and circumstantially suspected that the country’s Army, Police and Spy Police; joined by the non state actor jihadists have in this 2020 carried out as much as or not less than 100 secret executions, targeting citizens of Judeo-Christian faith.