The Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA) has called for the Nigerian government to strengthen religious rights, following their discovery that Christians have been the most violently persecuted group in Nigeria during the last four years.
A study by ORFA revealed that 16,700 Christians have been violently killed out of an overall civilian total of 55,900, mainly by Islamist extremists. This makes them the most discriminated-against people group in the country. Other groups to feature high on the list were security forces and terror group members.
ORFA has called on the Nigerian government to provide greater protections for freedom of religion for civilians and greater support for victims of violence, as well as better training for the police and armed forces, which it hopes will reduce the violence against vulnerable people groups.
Mission Africa representatives Professor Musa (who works in a Nigerian university), and Pamela Gaiya, described the situation Christians face, and revealed why it is not likely to improve: ‘Sadly, statistics are not formally documented by the government in Nigeria. However, non-governmental groups have records that clearly show that many Christians have been killed by terrorists (Boko Haram, Fulani bandits and kidnappers).
‘Because of its narrow and exclusive Islamist ideology, both Christians and Muslims have been killed by Boko Haram, with numbers reaching into the thousands. Banditry, which is mainly carried out by Fulani herdsmen, is mostly a conflict over scarce fertile land and is between well-armed cattle rearers who are Muslim, and undefended Christian farmers.
‘Most of the casualties are Christians, with complete villages being wiped out. Because the Fulani weaponry is expensive, the Fulanis introduced kidnapping, where huge ransoms are demanded to fund the banditry.
