A Nigerian think tank aims to document the ongoing violence of persecution against Christians
An automobile burned amid December 2022 terror attacks in Malagum 1 community of Kagoro Chiefdom, Kaura Local Government Council, Southern Kaduna, Kaduna State, Nigeria. Credit: Fr. Mattew Saleh. A Nigerian research centre has built a database which tracks how thousands of Christians in northern Nigeria have faced displacement, kidnapping, or death, with little government attention or response to the problem. Organized and compiled by the Kukah Centre of Abuja, the “Nigerian Atrocities Documentation Project” aims to compile evidence-based data into “an atrocities’ database” recording Christian persecution in northern Nigeria. The project has initially documented nearly 200 attacks on Christians communities in northern Nigeria during an eight-month period in 2022, in which hundreds of Christians have been killed, and thousands displaced, with little police or military intervention. Among the atrocities, the researchers documented 18 cases in which priests were kidnapped in the eight-month period, and that 4 priests were killed in northern Nigeria. Researchers say the historic roots of Christian persecution in the region date back centuries, and that Nigeria’s government has been slow to respond to a burgeoning epidemic of violence in the country. The database aims to provide information for researchers trying to understand Christian persecution in Nigeria, and for activists pushing the country’s government to respond. “It is important to gather evidence on the persecution of Christians for proper documentation and robust confrontation with the government on how best to address these current challenges” stressing that “where applicable, evidence collected can be used to call for compensation for victims,” said a preliminary report on the project.
According to the report, the project aims to document and identify “reliable evidence on the facts about the persecution of Christians in Northern Nigeria, accurate, context-based and fuller pictures of the situation of religious persecutions in Northern Nigeria, as well as the immediate and remote drivers of conflict, and to support local faith-based networks to collect documentation on atrocities against their communities and others.” The report, partially funded by a grant from the government of Hungary, depicts the breadth of violence against Christians in Nigeria, and a rising frequency of persecution events. It called on the Nigerian government to adopt a community-led policing approach, to develop an inter-religious commission to address religious conflicts, to increase military patrols in rural areas, and to establish camps for internally displaced Nigerians. Preliminary data tracked violence in two time periods In the first period, documenting February through May of 2022, 146 attacks on Christians were documented in Nigeria’s north. In that period, “one incident recorded that at least 50 persons were killed, while 26 incidences recorded that at least one person was injured…97 attacks recorded that an unspecified number of persons were missing while 22 recorded none [were abducted].” Between June and September 2022, “37 incidents of attacks were recorded across the region, of which 316 persons were killed and thousands were displaced from their homes.”
The NGO has emphasized that “incidences of marginalization, discrimination, and violent attacks against Christian communities in the region are often underreported and undocumented.” Underreporting “has given the perpetrators of these atrocities more impetus to execute heinous crimes against Christians in the Northern region” where “religiously motivated attacks are carried out against Christians, pretexting factors like the proliferation of arms, porous borders, and farmers’ and herders’ conflicts are presented as drivers of the conflict.” The report added that “many Christian communities are becoming soft spots for violent attacks because of the lack of government’s failure to nip the crisis in the bud” maintaining that “their susceptibility is worsened with an utter deprivation of basic amenities such as good access roads, potable water, hospitals, schools, etc.” Citing concrete examples, the data indicated that “Christians are subjected to the Sharia law, mob killings, forceful conversion to Islam, violent extremism, kidnappings, rape, child labour, human trafficking, and other human rights-related abuses. But the various arms and tiers of the government have shown complacency amid the increasing rate of these forms of violations against Christians.”
On “the complexity of the persecution of Christian in Northern Nigeria” the investigation underscored that it, “lies in the fact that both federal and state governments’ resources are instrumentalized against Christians living in cities and local communities across the region…because more than 70% of office positions at the federal, state, and local levels are occupied by Muslims.” The report also noted that, “This has made equal access to job opportunities and resource allocations almost impossible. During employment exercises, Muslims are highly favoured even without having the requirements while Christians who have the requirements are denied job opportunities. “The political atmosphere of Northern Nigeria is tense, taking into cognizance the number of political and religious violence. States like Kano, Sokoto, and Zamfara have not been able to separate the affairs of the government from Islamic doctrines. It has also not been able to regulate the violent and extremist preaching by some Islamic clerics. “These have made the persecution of Christians and the imposition of some Islamic laws in the region thrive. of Islamic laws on Christians residing in the states. Generally, practicing Christianity in Northern Nigeria is difficult considering the historical, socio-cultural, and political circumstances in the region.”
Historical context
The report traced the challenge Christians face in Northern Nigeria today to the formation of the 19th-century Sokoto Caliphate, in which Usman Danfodio fought a Jihad in “what now constitutes Northern Nigeria,” and the report said, left a legacy of “radical ideology” in the region. In unequivocal terms, the report argued that, “This historical event gave birth to Islamic dominance that has spread across Northern Nigeria. Though greeted with resistance, Christianity was able to thrive with the help of the missionaries who built schools, churches, and social and health infrastructure across the region.” “However, for decades now, contemporary Northern Nigeria continues to witness the dominance of Islam displayed (by Muslims) in a manner that stifles and undermines the freedom of Christian worship.” The data pointed out that “Boko Haram, ISWAP, and extremist Muslims have couched their ideologies on this historical background (and the extremist interpretation of the Quran) to advance the course of Islamic dominance which consequently leads to Christian persecution in Northern Nigeria” noting that “within this context, the separation of the state and religion (Islam) has been impossible” as “an average Muslim strongly believes that (against any religion, especially Christianity), state structures must be instrumentalized to promote Islam in the North. Largely, these have been the drivers of Christian persecution in Northern Nigeria.” The investigation found that the atrocities against Christians in northern Nigeria were perpetrated by Fulani herdsmen, Boko Haram and ISWAP and bandits and kidnappers. In the Northcentral, Christian communities are faced with “lack of functional migratory laws, increased armed acquisition by herdsmen, and the lack of security presence especially in rural communities, and as a reaction to the ban on anti-grazing laws in some states like Benue” the report disclosed observing that, “tagging these attacks as a conflict between Fulani herders and indigenous farmers is but concealing the true reasons for the attacks.”
It also maintained that “terrorist activities of Boko Haram and ISWAP in the North-east still affect Christian communities more. However, there are also cases of attacks by Fulani herdsmen in some communities like Suntai village in Taraba.” And in the northwest, “banditry and kidnapping have become prevalent because of a lack of government control and the absence of security in some rural Christian minority communities where the forceful conversion of Christian girls is also ongoing.” The centre observed that “each region has a particular category of attacks. Fulani herdsmen attacks are prevalent in the north-central, Islamic terrorism in the northeast, banditry, and kidnapping in the northwest, it found. “Due to the abundance of fertile land occupied by Christians in the north-central part of Nigeria, a spate of attacks has been ongoing to displace Christians and take over their lands. Terrorist activities in the Northeast mostly affect resettled communities while banditry, mob killings and forceful conversion to Islam takes the centre stage in the Northwest.” In its analysis, the Kukah Centre stated that “Attacks in north-central states have been prevalent because they are Christian majority states.
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