Christians in Nigeria up to 10 times more likely to be killed in jihadist attacks, new figures show

Aug 2, 2022 by Jill

by Kelly Valencia, Premier:

Extremist groups are specifically targeting Christians in Nigeria.

That’s according to new research by the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA), which has revealed Christians are between seven to ten times more likely to be killed than Muslims per capita by jihadist groups.

For Open Doors’ director of advocacy & public affairs in UK and Ireland, Dr David Landrum these figures are just “the tip of the iceberg.”

The number of Christians killed between Oct 2019 and Sep 2020 was 9.6 times higher than the number of Muslims killed in jihadism-related violence per capita.

That number slightly decreased in the following year (October 2020 – September 2021) to 7.8 times more likely to be killed than Muslims per capita.

Christians were also 59 times more likely to be abducted than Muslims by extremists between 2019 and 2020 per capita, with the number dropping to 4.1 times more between 2020 and 2021.

Dr Landrum told Premier Christian News the Nigerian government is failing to control extremist Islam attacks.

“One of the first responsibilities of any government is to provide security for its citizens and the Nigerian government are singularly failing in that responsibility, particularly in the middle belt, and in the north of the country,” he said.

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