R107: July 2019
The Global Terrorism Index ranks Nigeria as the third most-terrorised country in the world.
Between them Boko Haram terrorists and Fulani militants have killed tens of thousands and driven millions from their homes, together accounting for 88 per cent of terror-related deaths in Nigeria in 2018.¹
‘These groups have also killed Muslims who do not accept their Islamist ideology,’ said Paul, who works with Release partner Ben Kwashi, the Archbishop of Jos.
‘There is ample evidence that Fulani herdsmen themselves have links with Boko Haram.
‘The military-style attacks, the accuracy of the coordination of multiple attacks on villages at the same time and their effective use of AK47s, machetes and knives is evident of a well-trained and well-coordinated group.’
Currently over 100 predominantly- Christian villages in Plateau state, southern Kaduna, Taraba and Adamawa states have been taken over by Islamist Fulani cattle herders.
‘Reports of the massacres in the predominantly Christian villages in central Nigeria have been under-reported, especially by the government-owned media,’ added Paul.
‘This campaign by Islamic Fulani cattle herdsmen and Boko Haram terrorists is a strategic scorched-earth battle, a modern-day jihad against Christianity in the northern and Middle Belt regions of Nigeria.’
RLP declaration
The Religious Liberty Partnership (RLP), of which Release is a founding member, met in April in Abuja to call on the Nigerian authorities to do more to protect the rights of all communities, including Christians.
‘We stand with our brothers and sisters in Nigeria, who seek the restoration
of security, justice, rehabilitation, reconciliation, peace, equality before the law, and respect for the dignity and rights of all of their fellow citizens, regardless of creed or ethnicity,’
they said.
You can read the full statement at rlpartnership.org.
¹ Global Terrorism Index 2018, p23. Download full report here.
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