Tony Okafor, Awka


More than 4,500 Christians killed in Nigeria in 2023- Intersociety


A civil rights group, International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety),has said that more than 4,500 christians may have been killed across the country in 2023.

The right group said this on Tuesday in a statement signed by its principal officers: Emeka Umeagbalasi(Board Chairman).and Chidinma Udegbunam Esquire(Head, Campaign and Publicity)

Intersociety, who was reacting to the recent Plateau killing where no fewer than 160 persons reportedly lost their lives, accused security operatives of complicity in melee.

The group said, "The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety); Nigeria’s leading and respected Human Rights and Democracy Voice has observed with deepest shock, dismay and sadness that security forces in Nigeria including the Armed Forces, the Nigeria Police and the DSS; and Government-protected Fulani Jihadists have continued unchecked to slaughter, abduct and disappear thousands of defenseless Nigerians (mostly defenseless Christians and non Muslim others) on the grounds of their faith (religion) and ethnicity.

"The worst of it all is that the butcheries, abductions and disappearances are politically sanctioned by the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Sub-National (State) Governments in places where they have taken place.

"The Nigerian Government and the country’s security forces and their agencies as presently constituted, must return the country to “the security and safety of the people by the people and for the people” and in the line of their sworn duties, shun divisive and discriminatory tendencies and partisanship, class criminalization, ethnic profiling and false-labeling."

The group called for the scrapping of the Christian Association of Nigeria( CAN) and founding of a new stronger central Christian association capable of rising to the occasion in matters of defence of Christian Faith and protection of the Christian Faithful, worship centers and their properties.



The group statement read in part,"Totally and strongly condemned are the 2023 Christmas Eve (between Dec 24 and 25) massacre by Fulani Jihadists of not less 160 defenseless Plateau Christians in Ndun, Ngyong, Murfet, Makundary, Tamiso, Chiang, Tahore, Gawarbe, Dares, Darwat, etc in Bokkos Local Government Area where over 90 defenseless Christians were slaughtered and Gashishi and Ropp Districts of Barkin-Ladi LGA and others in Mangu LGA where not less than 70 others were hacked to death.



"According to local authorities and the Voice of America, “the death toll has now risen to at least 160” with over 300 injured and not less than 20 communities attacked and 221 houses burned down or wantonly destroyed in Bokkos alone.

"Intersociety also sees the latest butcheries as a clear handiwork of Fulani Jihadists (Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen and Jihadist Fulani Bandits) and conspiratorial security chiefs and operatives particularly the operatives of the Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Police Force and the DSS.

"It is further shocking and unbelievable that despite Jos and environs being the second most fortified city (after Kaduna) in Northern Nigeria in particular and Nigeria in general, in terms of military, intelligence and police facilities and their handlers or commanders, the City of Jos and environs have become most vulnerable and unprotected for Christians and other non Muslims and their sacred places of worship, lands and dwelling houses.

"As a matter of fact, Kaduna, Plateau and Benue States have become dangerously unsafe for Christians and non Muslim others; to the extent that Fulani Jihadists recklessly and rapaciously invade their Christian communities and other non Muslim settlements at will and slaughter them at will and unchallenged.

"Even when the deployed security forces receive early warning signals from the victims, the Fulani Jihadists still have their way and slaughter as many defenseless Christian citizens and burn down their properties as they wish and without resistance from any security quarters.

Continuing, the group said, "The situation of Christians and other non Muslims in Nigeria or any part thereof has become so worrying and vulnerable that the slogan: “it is better to kill 100 Christians than to kill a Fulani Herdsman”; has seemingly become the coded operational modus of the country’s security forces and their commanders.

"Apart from the country’s security forces and their establishments being manifestly biased and partisan, the policy makers in Nigeria since mid 2015; mainly drawn from Muslim population have consistently worked to grossly undermine the religious freedoms and civil liberties’ provisions in the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 as amended.

"More than 4,500 Christians are most likely to have been slaughtered in Nigeria since the beginning of January 2023 by the combined forces of the Nigerian security forces (Armed forces, police and DSS) and the Government-protected Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen and Jihadist Fulani Bandits; out of which Fulani Jihadists accounted for over 3,500 Christian deaths.

Wickedness

christians need to stand up and defend themselves..
If violence or war is the only means to stop the killings, so be it...

The IPOB should relocate to the Muslim community in the North and retaliate

The docility of christians should be well studied

When we said that apc is a party set up by Islamic agenda some people call us with all sorts of derogatory names