A four-year study conducted by The Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA) has revealed that mass killings, abductions and torture of whole families by Islamist extremists go largely unchallenged as military pursue targets hundreds of miles away in large regions of Nigeria.
According to a press release by the advocacy group on Thursday, the study was conducted from October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2023.
Researchers at ORFA recorded over 55,000 killings and mapped thousands of farm massacres and mass abductions in a four-year period, including in Nigeria’s fragile North Central Zone and Southern Kaduna.
The press release said, “A little-known terror group, the Fulani Ethnic Militia or FEM, commit mass killings hundreds of times a year through this region.
“Across the country, over 11,000 incidents of extreme violence took place during the data period, with more than 55,000 killings and 21,000 abductions.
“In the North Central zone alone, 3,007 incidents of extreme violence occurred. 2,010 incidents involved killings, 700 were abduction incidents, and 297 were a combination of killings and abductions.
“Now data mapping has revealed security operations are concentrated in the North-East and North-West of Nigeria, hundreds of miles from the scenes of FEM atrocities.
“Across the North-Central zone and Southern Kaduna – where hundreds of FEM atrocities occur – there is markedly little security engagement at the scene of attacks.”
Frans Vierhout, senior analyst at ORFA, said, “Millions of people are left undefended. For years, we’ve heard of calls for help being ignored, as terrorists attack vulnerable communities.”
The ORFA data project also revealed the widening reach of Islamist kidnapping in Nigeria, with incidents escalating through the four years: 2020 (1,665 people abducted) 2021 (5,907 people abducted) 2022 (7,705 people abducted) and 2023 (6,255 people abducted).
The release said, “Christians are 1.4 times more likely to be abducted than Muslims. In terms of state populations, proportional loss of Christians is higher: around 5.1 Christians are abducted for every Muslim in terms of local populations.
“’Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM) are targeting Christian populations, while Muslims also suffer severely at their hands,’ notes Rev. Dr. Gideon Para-Mallam, partner to ORFA and analyst.
“‘Kidnappers work to Islamist goals. Where young women are kidnapped, tortured and sexually violated, hope for normal married life, and family, may vanish.’
“At the end of 2023, the IDMC reported 3.3 million Nigerians were forcibly displaced from their homes and surviving in makeshift camps.”
The authors of the ORFA data project urged the international community to examine the data and to do more to fully understand the scale of the challenge to Nigeria.
ORFA is a programme of the Foundation Platform for Social Transformation, a registered charity in Voorburg, The Netherlands, under Chamber of Commerce.
