Jihadist Genocide Of Christians In Nigeria Bloodiest In 2023: 8,222 Hacked To Death From Jan-Jan

..Nigeria: second deadliest genocide country (150,000 deaths since 2009) after Syria’s 306,000 deaths since 2011

… Nigeria is second in the world list of ’Fourteen Genocides’ (ongoing) and ‘Seven Warning Genocides’

Emerging Shocking Statistics:

1,450 Christian Deaths In 2023 In Benue, 1,400 In Plateau, 822 In Kaduna, 730 In Niger, Etc
8,400 Christians Abducted In 2023 And 840 Never Returned Alive From Captivity
Military, Police Abducted 800 In 2023 In South-East Who Never Returned Alive Till Date
Jihadist Herdsmen Abducted 1000 Easterners In 2023 In The East And Slaughtered 600 In Captivity
Islamic Terror Jihadists Abducted 1,300 In 2023 In Niger, 1100 In Kaduna And 400 In FCT, Etc
500 Churches Attacked In 2023 And 18,500 Since 2009
70 Christian Clerics Abducted In 2023 And At Least 25 Killed
300 Christian Communities Sacked In 2023 And More than 1,100 Since 2009
50m Christians Religiously Threatened Mostly In The North Since 2009, Millions Forced To Flee
15m Christian IDPs Generated And Hundreds Of Thousands Crossed Int’l Borders
3m IDPs In Benue Alone With Old Millions In Borno, Adamawa, Taraba And Yobe
Fresh Millions Of IDPs Risen In Niger, FCT, Nasarawa, Kogi, Ondo, Enugu, Etc

Nigeria: International Investigative Report

Ash-Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Jihadist Genocide Of Christians Rages And Ravages Nigeria: Nigeria has become the second deadliest Genocide-Country in the world accounting for more than 150,000 religiously motivated defenseless civilian deaths since 2009 (fifteen years of Boko Haram Jihadist Uprising in Nigeria). The Nigeria’s alarming death toll is only surpassed by the battered State of Syria which has been embroiled in devastating civil war since 2011 with civilian deaths of 306,000 out of about 21.5m citizens. The Nigerian death toll would have been more than five times higher than those of Syria if the country had engaged in open genocidal warfare-with over 200m citizens. The massacre of Christians in Nigeria is now dubbed “Silent Genocide” or “Jihadist Genocide of Christians”. Killings and associated grisly and egregious violence against persons or groups and properties of international coloration; perpetrated on the grounds of ethnicity and religion accounted for over 150,000 defenseless civilian deaths since 2009, leading to burning down or wanton destruction of tens of thousands of civilian dwelling houses, over 18,500 Sacred Places of Christian Worship, 1000 Traditional Religious Sanctuaries and 2,500 Christian/Traditional Learning Centers during which over 59,000 square kilometers of landmass (twice the size of South-East Nigeria) ancestrally belonging to indigenous Christians and non Muslim others were seized and their owners uprooted and sacked in at least ten States. The over 150,000 religiously related deaths in Nigeria in fifteen years had included ‘direct deaths’ of at least 100,000 and ‘indirect deaths’ of 50,000. Among the over 50,000 ‘indirect deaths’ were those abducted and killed in captivity by various Islamic Jihadists; classified as “victims of the enforced disappearances”. In Law and Criminology, ‘Enforced Disappearances’ and ‘Torture’ have no excuses or exonerative defenses at perpetration and can be perpetrated by state actors or non state actors or someone or individuals sanctioned by a state actor or state actors.

According to available local and international statistics, “Boko Haram and allied others have been responsible for abduction and disappearance of at least 22,500 mainly defenseless Christians between 2009 and 2014”; during which “they also wantonly destroyed or burned down 13,000 churches and 1500 Christian schools, directly killed between 11,500 and 12,500 Christians and forced over 1.3m others to flee to avoid being hacked to death or forcefully converted to Islam” (Ms. Anne Mulder and Open Doors USA: 2015). Between 2016 and 2023; a period of eight years, more than 30,000 defenseless civilians were abducted by Islamic Jihadists and, some say, ‘Islamic-inspired’ security forces in Nigeria. The abducted over 30,000 were never returned alive till date. In all, Christians accounted for roughly 100,000 of the ‘direct deaths’ and ‘indirect deaths’ of the over 50,000 while moderate Muslims accounted for about 46,000 and members of other religions accounted for the remaining 4,000 defenseless civilian deaths.

‘Fourteen Genocides’ (Ongoing) And ‘Seven Warning Genocides’ In The World: According to ‘the International Alliance against Genocide’, of which Intersociety is a member since 2020, “today’s world is gripped and devastated by ’Fourteen Genocides’ (ongoing) and ‘Six Warning Genocides’ and they include Renewed Genocide in Darfur and Sudan, Jihadist Genocide of Christians in Nigeria, Russian Genocide in Ukraine, Slow Genocide of Hazara Shias in Afghanistan, Assad Regime and Turkish Genocides in Syria, Genocide in North Korea, Genocides of ethnic minorities in Myanmar, the Genocide of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and India, Chinese Genocide of Uyghur Muslims, Hamas Genocide of Israelis; War Crimes in Gaza, Genocide in Ethiopia, Genocide in Democratic Republic of Congo and Genocide in Nagorno-Karabakh (Azerbaijan-Armenia/Artsakh). On the other hand, the ‘Seven Warning Genocides’ include Warning Genocide over Azerbaijani aggression in Syunik Province in the Republic of Armenia and Warning Genocides in India, Pakistan and Iran and the Iranian-backed terrorism by Houthis in Yemen; and Saudi, UAE, and Qatar support for Wahhabi jihadist terrorism

Jihadists And ‘Islamist Security Forces’ Killed 8,222 Christians In 2023: 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 defenseless Christians-covering a period of 13 months or Jan (2023)-Jan (2024), out of which Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen were responsible for at least 5,100 Christian deaths, Boko Haram and their allies 500 deaths, Jihadist Fulani Bandits 1,600 deaths and ‘Islamic-inspired’ security forces 1000 Christian deaths. Among the non state actor deaths were about 840 or roughly 10% of the 8,400 abducted Christians killed in captivity or never returned alive. The death of 8,222 defenseless Christians and abduction of over 8,400 others in 13 months or Jan 1, 2023 to Jan 1, 2024 marked the deadliest in recent years principally occasioned by woeful failure of the Government of Nigeria and the country’s security forces to rise to the occasion and tacit support and protection they are strongly and widely believed to have rendered to the Jihadists particularly the Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen politically and financially backed by the Miyatti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) and the Fulani Nationality Movement (FUNAM). The alarming increase in the number of Christian deaths and their houses and sacred places of worship and learning burned down or wantonly destroyed in 2023, as against the 2022’s 5,068 Christian deaths; was also widely seen as “a farewell gift to the genocidal Government of Retired Major General Muhammad Buhari” and “a welcome gift’ to the new Central Government of Nigeria under “Muslim-Muslim Presidential ticket”.

In Jan 2024 alone, at least 200 defenseless Christians were slaughtered across Nigeria including more than 50 deaths recorded in Plateau State. The 2023 anti Christian killings had occurred in not less than 1000 crime scene attacks during which not less than 500 Churches and estimated 200 Traditional Religious Sanctuaries were ferociously attacked, burned down or wantonly destroyed or violently shut down. The no fewer than 500 attacked churches were also gravely threatened and forced to be deserted. In Bokkos County of Plateau State alone, not less than 25 churches have been affected since the Dec 23, 2023 attacks and 102 communal Christian villages sacked and over 1300 Christian houses razed. Not less than 300-400 Christian communities in Plateau State have been uprooted and sacked by Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen in recent years’ attacks including burning or wanton destruction of over 10,000 Christian homes by Government-protected Fulani Jihadists assembled from Bauchi, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Zamfara, Borno, etc.

Many of the Plateau Christian villages uprooted and sacked by Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen have been renamed including: Rankum (renamed Mahanga), Fass in Riyom (renamed Tafawa), Gwoi in Barkin Ladi (renamed Lugere), Fit ma Bucher (renamed Magaraje), Farandong Hai (renamed Josho) and Horop Mushere (renamed Dajin Gwamna) all in Bokkos; all of which currently serve as staging grounds for more Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen attacks in Plateau State. The attacks on defenseless Nigerian Christians in the past 13 months (Jan 2023-Jan 2024) also led to the burning down or wanton destruction of more than 20,000 Christian houses and uprooting and sacking of no fewer than 500 Christian communities in the ten worst hit States of Plateau, Benue, Southern Kaduna and other Christian parts of the State; Niger, Taraba, Borno, Yobe, Adawama, Kebbi, FCT, Kogi and Enugu State where over 22 communities have been attacked or threatened with Jihadist Herdsmen and Fulani Nomad militia attacks.

Not less than 70 Christian clerics and 100 Traditional Religious Priests were attacked and abducted in 2023 alone, out of which at least 25 pastors and priests were killed including three Catholic Priests and over 20 Pentecostal and Baptist Pastors and Prophets of the African Instituted Churches. It is recalled that Intersociety had on July 11, 2023 issued astatement, stating that “over 2,500 defenseless Christians were hacked to death in Nigeria from Jan 1 to June 30, 2023 including 590 deaths in Benue, 502 in Plateau, 322 in Kaduna and 230 in Christian parts of Niger State (.i.e. Paikoro, Munya, Shiroro, Rafi, etc)”. Consequently, from July 2023 to Jan 2024, a period of seven months, the number of Christians killed in Nigeria alarmingly increased to 8,222, from 2,500; with addition of at least 5,722, out of which Benue became the worst hit with not less than 1,450 Christian deaths, closely followed by Plateau with 1,400, Kaduna 822 and Niger 730. According to the Daily Post report of Feb 12, 2024, for instance, “over 500 (Christians) were killed by killer Herdsmen in Agatu, Oturkpo and Apa Local Government Areas of Benue between Nov 2023 and Jan 2024”. Over 700 defenseless Christians also lost their lives in Nasarawa and Borno States in 2023 while South-East (Imo, Abia and Enugu) recorded at least 200 open deaths and 600 captivity deaths in the hands of Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen abductions. Not less than 300 Christian lives were lost in Taraba, Adamawa and Yobe States particularly in Takum part of Taraba State. High Christian death toll was also recorded in the hands of the country’s “Islamic-inspired” security forces in the South-East in 2023 during which they directly killed at least 200 and abducted over 800 who never returned alive till date. The victims were arrested by security forces unarmed in their homes or workplaces or on their way going to work or returning home or at sleep and killed or abducted and disappeared without official records under situation of false labeling and class criminalization; perpetrated on the grounds of ethnicity and religion. It must be noted that not less than 30% of the anti Christian killings in Nigeria and associated property violence are not reported and have been classified as “dark figures of crime”.

The most shocking of it all is that the Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen operate freely and unchallenged with impunity and reckless abandon; with the Nigerian Security Forces (NSFs), widely accused of being “Islamic-inspired”, turning blind eyes or looking the other side; except when it comes to protection of Fulani cows and their herders; or arresting members of the victim communities and their leaders; labeling them “bandits”. On Sept 26, 2023, for instance, the Nigerian Chief of Army Staff (Taoreed Lagbaja) caused the Traditional Ruler of Panyam Community in Mangu County of Plateau State and 12 of his subjects and leaders of the Area’s Development Authority to be arrested and detained amidst torture. They were controversially accused of “killing one Adamu Gabdo, a Fulani leader in the Area” and in the end, the arrested Panyam leaders were not only innocent but also the corpse of the said Fulani leader was found in a remote part of another community in Bauchi State. If the Nigerian Military, Police and other security agencies have responded with the same speed, swiftness, promptness and zeal (as in the case of Plateau Fulani Leader’s alleged premeditated murder) when defenseless Christians are massacred or facing threats of massacre and property violence anywhere in Nigeria including Plateau, Benue, Southern Kaduna and South-East; then the systematic and well coordinated massacre of Christians in the country or any part thereof would have been substantially checkmated and reduced to the barest minimum, if not totally brought to an end. The Nigerian Army had also recently released a statement claiming that “the anti Christian killings in Plateau State were as a result of rustling of Fulani cows by the locals”.

Instances of the Nigerian Military’s brazen partisanship and biasness in the massacre of Christians in Nigeria or any part thereof are too many to be mentioned. In the South-East Nigeria in 2023, while hundreds of unarmed citizens were arrested or openly shot and killed or abducted and disappeared monthly by the security forces particularly by soldiers of the Nigerian Army and Police crack squads; using false labeling and mass criminalization or under circumstances of zero concrete or indictable and convictable pieces of evidence; official records of arrest and trial of the Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen and their allies responsible for the abduction of no fewer than 1000 defenseless Easterners and killing in captivity of at least 600 of them and open killing of not less than 200 others; are nowhere to be located. The security forces in the South-East also hardly prosecute the arrested Easterners who survived their deadly use of force; not to talk of securing convictions against them since August 2015. Also, since 2016, the Nigerian Government has promoted as national policies several ‘pro Fulani Islamic cattle, land and water management programs’ with clandestine Islamization consequences or negative effects on the target Christian locals and their communities and such ‘Jihadist Government programs’ included “RUGA”, “Waterway Control”, “National Livestock Transformation Plan”, “Nigerian Military (Army) Ranching/Fulani Settlents” and “National Cattle Ranching/Fulani Settlement programs”, etc.

690 Defenseless Christians Killed Monthly In 2023 And 23 Every Day: Not less than 690 defenseless Christians were found to have been killed monthly by Jihadists and, some say; ‘Islamic-inspired security forces’ in Nigeria in 2023, out of which at least 23 were killed every day. In Plateau State, not less than 502 Christians were hacked to death from Jan to June 2023 and from July to Nov, additional 500 were slaughtered and 350 Christian lives lost in the State from Dec 1 to Dec 31 and over 50 others in Jan 2024 alone. Benue State also accounted for 590 Christian deaths from Jan to June 2023 and over 300 from July to Nov 2023 and more than 500 from Dec 2023 to Jan 2024. Nasarawa State recorded 250 Christian deaths between May and August 2023 and over 50 others in the remaining part of 2023. In Kaduna State, not less than 822 Christian lives were lost in 2023 and in Niger State; at least 730 Christian lives were lost in Christian parts of the State. Not less than 700 Christians were also slaughtered in Borno and Taraba States by combined forces of Boko Haram, ISWAP, Jihadist Fulani Bandits and Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen. The Nigerian Christian Community also lost dozens in 2023 across the country including Kebbi, Bauchi, Yobe, Gombe, Kastina, FCT, Kwara, Kogi, Anambra, Ebonyi, Delta, Edo, Ondo, Ekiti, Oyo and Adamawa, etc. High Christian death tolls also arose from victims of the Military and Police abductions and those abducted by the Jihadists and killed in captivity. The slain citizens included not less than 200 openly killed and 800 abducted by the military and the police in 2023 in the South-East on the grounds of their religion and ethnicity and never located alive or dead till date. Another high death toll occurred from 10% (about 840) of about 8,400 traveler or sedentary Christians abducted across the country by the Jihadists in 2023; believed to have been killed in captivity. The remaining 1000 Christian deaths represented those hacked to death outside the 10 worst hit States of Plateau, Benue, Kaduna, Niger, Borno, Nasarawa, Taraba, South-East (Abia, Imo and Enugu), Yobe and Kebbi as well as ‘dark figures of crime’ including death of relatives arising from traumas or other conditions associated with abduction and disappearance of their breadwinners or loved ones.

8,400 Christians Abducted In 2023: 700 Abducted Monthly, 24 On Daily Basis: No fewer than 8,400 defenseless Christians were abducted in 2023 across Nigeria by Islamic Jihadists and some say; ‘Islamic-inspired security forces’, out of which about 10% or roughly 840 never returned alive till date and are strongly believed to have been killed in captivity by their captors. The above represented monthly abduction of 700 and 24 on daily basis. Between 1,400 and 2000 Christians were abducted from Jan to June 2023 and the number recorded an alarming increase between July 2023 and Jan 2024-with additional abduction of 6,600-7000 defenseless Christians. The abductions captured by Intersociety are those perpetrated on the grounds of ethnicity and religion and did not include ‘violent street criminality related abductions’. Our statistics also showed that Christian parts of Niger and Kaduna States were the worst hit with 1,300 and 1,100 respectively. As at end of Jan 2024, according to sources, not less than 300 abducted Christians were still held by Jihadist Fulani Bandits and Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen in their hideouts in Kaduna State.

Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen were also responsible for the abduction of not less than 1000 Eastern travelers in the South-East particularly in places around Lokpanta Fulani Cattle Market in Abia and other parts of Abia State including Leru, Isiukwuato, Umunneochi and Uturu, etc; Obinze-Iheagwa Forests (near 34 Brigade of the Nigerian Army and Elele Nigerian Naval Base in Rivers State), Ihube, Aku and Umulolo (in Okigwe), Ikpa-Ora (in Arondizogu), etc; all in Imo State; Four-Corner, Eke-Udi areas, Ugwu-ogo-Nike-Opi-Nsukka, Uzo-Uwani, Eha-Amufu, Isi-Uzo, Ekpawfu (Nkanu East), etc; all in Enugu State. Out of the 1000 defenseless Easterners abducted by Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen and their jihadist allies, about 600 including mothers and their unborn and newborns were slaughtered in captivity. The discovery in Oct 2023 by the Government of Abia State of not less than 80 dead bodies in various stages of decomposition at the Lokpanta Fulani Cattle Market and fresh discoveries made inside the Obinze-Iheagwa Forest occupied by Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen are clear cases in point. Other States affected by the abduction of Christians by Boko Haram, Ansaru, ISWAP and Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen and Jihadist Fulani Bandits and allied others in 2023 included FCT 400, Plateau 300, Benue 300, Nasarawa 300, Borno 200, Taraba 200, Kebbi 150, Kogi 300, Edo and Delta 300, South-West (Ondo, Ekiti, Oyo) 300, Adamawa, Yobe, Bauchi and Gombe 200 as well as 1,100 others representing “the dark figures of crime” or 15% of the entire 8,400 abductees that went unreported and unrecorded. On the other hand, the Military and the Police were also responsible for the abduction of at least 800 Easterners in the East in 2023; abducted because of their ethnicity and religion.

The Rise Of ‘Islamic-Inspired’ Political And Security Establishments In Nigeria Since 2015: The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (InterSociety) has monitored, investigated and documented the situation of Christians, traditional religionists, Judaism adherents and Muslim minorities facing persecution in Nigeria or any part thereof since 2010. The above advocacy of ours was done and still being done line with the International Freedom of Worship or Belief. Intersociety Leader, Emeka Umeagbalasi (a university trained criminologist), as the leader of the Anambra State Branch of Nigeria’s Civil Liberties Organization (CLO) and grassroots rights campaigner since mid 1990s, had also followed the patterns and trends of the Fulani Herdsmen and their ancient seasonal grazing methods and networks across Nigeria’s Rain-Forest Regions (Old Middle Belt, South-West, South-South and South-East) dating back from 1940s to 1990s and the introduction of irrigation and other scientific methods in the North to boost animal and crop productions. It is therefore totally untrue that the killing of Christians in Nigeria and seizure of their ancestral farmlands and wanton destruction or burning down of their sacred places of worship and learning were as a result of “climate change” or “herders-farmers’ clashes” or “cow rustling” (Nigerian military latest Fulani cattle defensive false narrative) or “struggle for the control of mineral resources” (latest Nigerian Government sponsored international diversionary false narrative). Intersociety is expertly seeing all of the above as part of the Nigerian Government’s international diversionary and distractive strategies and three out of the over 40 false narratives promoted by the former Government of Retired Major Gen Muhammad Buhari and continued by the present Central Government of Nigeria under “Muslim-Muslim Presidential Ticket”. The above is to say that the massacre of Christians in Nigeria is unmistakably systematic, well coordinated and premeditated; a fundamental part of the ‘State Jihadism Project’ promoted to the State level since July 2015. It must be pointed out that radicalization of Fulani Herdsmen and their transformation into ‘Islamic Jihadists’ through formation of Jihadist terror squads within the grazing group remotely started at rag-tag level in 2001 in Jos during which they were drafted by Islamic radicals within the country’s northern political and security establishments into the Jos ethno-religious violence of 2001, 2004, 2007 and 2008; killing thousands of native and non native Christians and wantonly destroying their houses and other properties. From there, they were drafted into similar violent clashes in Benue and Southern Kaduna, etc and later used to unleash post 2011 Presidential Election violence that killed at least 1000 Southern Christians in the North. By middle of 2015 when the MACBAN Life Patron, Buhari became Nigeria’s President, his emergence turned into a sobriquet “Fulani Political Uprising”. Buhari’s Presidency not only transformed and brought Fulani Jihadism into the national limelight but also compromised and radicalized the country’s security forces and made them widely look like the “servants of the Fulani hegemony”. It was at that point that the Fulani terror jihadists got spread across the country’s rain-forest regions using the existing “Fulani Herdsmen grazing routes and networks”.

Through the deceitful and camouflaged “internal military operations”, the Fulani Jihadists were militarily protected to invade southern and middle belt farmlands, bushes and forests. This is to the extent that, today, the highest concentration of the Fulani Herdsmen’s jihadist terror activities in the South and the Middle-Belt and other Christian-held areas in the North are found near military or other security formations. The spreading of Fulani Herdsmen jihadists in the South was commenced in early 2016 after the deceitful and camouflaged alleged “Nigerian military forest mapping of late 2015”. Boko Haram, on its part, started as a rag-tag mob under Borno State Governments of Mala Kachalla (2002) and Ali Modu Sheriff (2003) and was led by Mohammed Yusuf. The group was later infiltrated and hijacked by Islamic radicals within the country’s political and security establishments and transformed into a jihadist terror squad with regional and international jihad weaponry and funding terror linkages. In Maradum Zamfara State, “Zamfara Bandits” rose in 2011 as a rag-tag local Fulani mob to counter the influence of an indigenous Hausa Vigilante called “Yankasai”; from where the group got infiltrated by illegal miners of local solid minerals. By 2013, the “Zamfara Fulani Bandits” had spread and transformed into “jihadist-economic terror group”; with their original target-victims being the local indigenous Hausa Muslims and Christians in Zamfara, Kaduna (Birnin-Gwari, etc) which later spread to Katisina, Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Nasarawa, Kogi, FCT, Ondo, Ekiti, Oyo, Ogun, Delta, Edo, etc; targeting Christian natives and travelers and western-cultured Muslims in those areas. The ‘Jihadist Zamfara Fulani Bandits’ later in June 2020 formed alliance with Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen, Boko Haram, Ansaru, ISWAP and other jihadist groups allowed into the country under Buhari from black and Maghreb African countries including alien Fulanis, Shuwa and Baggara Arabs, Kanuris and Maghreb jihadists. The Jihadist Fulani Bandits and Herdsmen have been responsible for the abduction, extortion and killing of Southern Christian travelers on Southern and Northern roads till date.

Recommendations:

Calling, as a matter of extreme urgency, for the appointment of the UN Secretary General’s Special Emergency Envoy on Nigeria and UN Security Council Resolution authorizing comprehensive UN-backed Commission of Inquiry or International Investigation into systematic and well coordinated ethno-religious attacks by Government-protected Islamic Jihadists on defenseless Christians and others and their sacred places of worship and learning, dwelling houses and means of livelihood (.i.e. farmlands) and associated displacements, depopulation, forced migrations, evictions, lootings and dispossessions; all arising from murders, attempted murders, abductions, enforced disappearances, torture, sexual violence, forced faith conversions, burning and destruction of symbols of worship, etc. All of the above have been found to have violated the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their protocols and other international human rights and humanitarian laws or conventions.

The International UN Investigation call shall cover the ongoing mass killings, abductions, disappearances, torture, lootings, wanton destruction of civilian houses and other properties and other grievous international offenses ravaging the Old Eastern Nigeria particularly in Imo and other parts of the Southeast. To be internationally investigated by the UN Special Inquiry Commission are the conduct atrocities of the Nigerian Security Forces (NSFs) particularly soldiers of the Nigerian Army and various crack Squads of the Nigeria Police Force in Imo, Anambra, Enugu, Abia, Rivers, Ebonyi, Benue, Plateau, Niger and Kaduna and Borno, Taraba, Yobe and Adamawa; ranging from massive extrajudicial killings to conspiring with Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen to unleash wanton terror on defenseless civilian populations and their properties on the grounds of their ethnicity and religion.

Calling for immediate appointment by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; of Special Representatives on Nigeria (.i.e. UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Worship or Belief and a Special Rep of the UN Refugee Agency) to comprehensively investigate the situation of millions of Christian IDPs and other moderate Muslims including those that have crossed international borders (refugees) so as to ascertain their numbers and locations and roles played by the Nigerian Government regarding their welfare; a fundamental part of the country’s international human rights and humanitarian obligations under UN System.

Such international obligations undertaken by Nigeria include rehabilitation, resettlement, re-integration, reconstruction, restoration and compensations of victims of international heinous crimes and apprehension and judicial and administrative (if state actors) punishment of the offenders to deter future offenders and repeat-offenders. The UN Human Rights Council must rise to the occasion and use its Universal Periodic Reviews mechanisms and sessions to weld its big stick on Nigeria in the area of International Freedom of Worship or Belief, etc.

The UN-backed Commission of Inquiry or investigations shall be comprehensive, timely and conclusive with their outcomes referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in accordance with Chapter Seven (V11) of the UN Charter of 1945; for criminal investigation including arrest, trial and conviction of the individual and group perpetrators including state actors (aiders, instigators, sponsors and abettors) and group and individual non state actors such as MACBAN and FUNAM.

The massacre of Christians (Jihadist Genocide of Christians in Nigeria) and associated evictions, depopulations, forced migrations, etc, shall be made a cardinal campaign issue in the coming 2024 US Presidential Election. To this end, the African Americans including millions of ancient and modern Igbo migrants resident in USA and millions of supporters of ‘International Freedom of Religion or Belief’ shall seize such opportunity and make it a frontal campaign promise issue by the Republicans and the Democrats and their presidential candidates. The above is against the backdrop of the fact that “if Nigeria of over 200m citizens goes on brink or the way of Rwanda of 1994, it will be too much for America and her allies to contain and sustain”.

Calling for UN Resolution on Nigeria for the establishment of “the UN Military and Humanitarian Mission in Nigeria” for purpose of checkmating grisly and egregious terror attacks by the Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen, the Jihadist Fulani Bandits (Zamfara Bandits), the Boko Haram, the ISWAP, the Ansaru and their regional and international affiliates and stopping them from spreading their terror against Christians and others. The Nigerian Security Forces (NSFs) having been deeply radicalized, infiltrated, un-professionalized and almost, if not already transformed into “tribo-Islamic gendarmes” since the “Fulani political uprising” in Nigeria on May 29, 2015; must be comprehensively reorganized including re-radicalization, retraining and professionalization under ‘the UN Military and Humanitarian Mission’; to be assisted and funded by other international actors.

The Nigeria’s strategic international humanitarian, military and development supporters and suppliers: the US, the Canada, the EU, the UK, the France, the Germany, etc, must genuinely and sincerely mount sufficient pressure on the country’s present Government to at all times treat all Nigerians equally and govern the country pluralistically irrespective of their ethnic or religious groupings or affiliations. Future development or humanitarian or military supports or assistance to Nigeria by the above named powerful international actors shall be tied to the country being governed pluralistically at all times and allowing and protecting the country’s citizens to enjoy their freedom of worship or belief.

Calling on US, EU, UK, France, German and Canadian Parliamentarians, etc especially the lovers and promoters of the ‘International Freedom of Worship or Belief’ to intensify their parliamentary and diplomatic campaigns and other efforts so as pound enough pressure on the leaders of Nigeria to practically respect ‘International Freedom of Worship or Belief’ and particularly protect at all times defenseless Christians, Muslim minorities and members of other religions. Such efforts shall be brought to the fore and consistently pushed until Nigeria is re-enlisted into the “Countries of Particular Concerned” by the United States Department of State and placed in international watch list by other powerful international actors.

The Government of Nigeria must be internationally compelled to de-register the Miyatti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) and the Fulani Nationality Movement (FUNAM) for aiding jihadist genocide in Nigeria or any part thereof. To this end, the Nigeria’s Commander-in-Chief must be internationally pressurized to abolish the widely suspected “Commander-in-Chief Order” treating Fulani Jihadists and their likes as “above the law” and others particularly Igbo citizens and Christians as “second or third class citizens” un-deserving to live or survive more than “Fulani cows” .

The Nigeria’s Commander-in-Chief must, as a matter of fact, address the “Fulani lordship factor” in the country’s political and security and establishments and their policies and operations. To this end, the Nigerian Government must be compelled by the UN and the country’s international partners to go after the leaders or commanders of the Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen, the Jihadist Fulani Bandits and affiliated others by arresting and trying them or inviting the ICC if it is “unable and unwilling” to do so and must stop pampering Boko Haram terrorists with widely suspected “partners-in-crime” amnesty arrangements while killing other Nigerians particularly thousands of unarmed and defenseless citizens with reckless abandon using false labeling and class criminalization and allowing Fulani Jihadists unhindered access to ‘prohibited firearms’ with which they massacre defenseless Nigerians at will and wantonly destroy their properties.

Any company found to have possessed or seized or annexed or procured lands belonging to displaced Christians and their communities anywhere in Nigeria shall be disbanded and its leaders or directors arrested for conspiracy (including sponsorship) to perpetrate heinous crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity; likewise leaders of any national or sub-national government or security or defense formation found to have aided or conspired with such company.

End.

For: International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety)

Compiled By:

Emeka Umeagbalasi, Criminologist-Researcher

Board Chair @ Intersociety

Call or WhatsApp: +2349022593196

Assisted By:

Chinwe Umeche Esquire

Head, Democracy and Good Governance Program @ Intersociety

Chidinma Udegbunam Esquire

Head, Campaign and Publicity Department @ Intersociety

Obianuju Igboeli Esquire