Report: 8,000 Nigerian Christians murdered in worst year for Islamist attacks

Feb 18, 2024 by Jill

Ngala Killian Chimtom, Catholic Herald:

Nigeria last year witnessed the bloodiest year of Islamist attacks against Christians according to a new report.

More than 8,000 Christians were killed in 2023, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) has said.

The report published on Ash Wednesday gives harrowing details of killings, kidnappings, and forced disappearances of largely Christian populations in several parts of Nigeria.

“The combined forces of the government-protected Islamic Jihadists and the country’s Security Forces (NSFc) are directly and vicariously accountable for hacking to death in 2023 of no fewer than 8,222 defenceless Christians – covering a period of 13 months or Jan (2023) – Jan (2024),” said the report, signed among others by the Director of Intersociety, Emeka Umeaglalasi.

The killings were carried out by a range of factions, including Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen who were responsible for at least 5,100 Christian deaths, Boko Haram and their allies with 500 deaths, Jihadist Fulani Bandits with 1,600 deaths and “Islamic-inspired” security forces with 1000 Christian deaths.

It said the January 2023 to January 2024 killings marked “the deadliest in recent years,” and blamed the woeful failure of the Nigerian government and the security forces for failing to “rise to the occasion”.

But the killings over the past year are part of a long-standing war against Christians, dating back to 2009 when Boko Haram started its murderous campaign in Africa’s most populous nation.

“Nigeria has become the second deadliest Genocide-Country in the world accounting for more than 150,000 religiously motivated defenseless civilian deaths since 2009,” the report states.

Read here