Nigeria’s government at federal and state levels continues to tolerate attacks by non-state assailants who justify violence on religious grounds, in line with a report by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).
“Islamist and a few Fulani militant groups have expressed a goal of overthrowing secular governance with the intention of enforcing a singular interpretation of Islam,” states the report, released on Friday (Aug. 9).
About 30,000 “Fulani bandits” operate in several groups in northwest Nigeria in groups of 10 to 1,000 members, engaging in “violence and banditry targeting predominantly Christian communities in Nigeria and usually pose the best security threat in northwest Nigeria,” the report states.
Their crimes include kidnapping, rape, property and cattle theft, illegal possession of weapons and murder.
“The specific perpetrators of and motivation behind individual attacks might be difficult to confirm,” USCIRF states. “Regardless of motivation, nevertheless, attacks within the northwest, northeast and central regions of Nigeria significantly restrict freedom of faith or belief, particularly for the predominantly Christian communities that live there.”
Fulani-associated criminality has been occurring for years but has evolved right into a transnational security dilemma, the report notes, adding that crimes are magnified by competition for natural resources between predominantly Christian farmers and predominantly Muslim Fulani herders. The conflict this yr has drastically affected food production and regional trade and fomented illegal taxation of primarily Christian farmers, the report states.
“Violence between herders (mostly Muslims) and farmers (predominantly Christian) sometimes leads to the destruction of spiritual sites, even when nonreligious aspects like resource competition and ethnic animosity are the drivers of conflict,” the report states. “This competition often manifests along religious divides between Christians and Muslims, particularly in areas like Plateau state, where each communities reside.”
In January, skirmishes between Fulanis and ethnic Mwagaful farmers killed not less than 30 people in Plateau state, and assailants also burned churches and mosques.
“Fulani bandits also perform kidnappings to extort ransom money from middle- or working-class families,” USCIRF states. “In several cases, they’ve kidnapped students from Christian schools or from buses taking children to those schools.”
Gangs generally release hostages unharmed if families meet ransom demands, but victims’ families have criticized the federal government for being slow in responding to and rescuing those abducted; the report also notes that they criticize the federal government for failing to forestall kidnappings.
Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has requested victims’ families refrain from paying ransom demands to discourage abductions. Tinubu has also promised the federal government will utilize more “detailed strategies” to curtail kidnappings, though he has not elaborated on them, in line with the report.
USCIRF states that government policies are discriminatory, infringe on religious liberty, result in abuse of human rights and subtly aid terrorist activities within the country. The government has not undertaken spirited efforts to envision escalating terrorist attacks, it notes.
The government uses blasphemy laws to prosecute and imprison individuals perceived to have insulted religion, including Christians, Muslims and humanists, USCIRF states.
“It also continues to tolerate egregious violence by nonstate actors, including JAS/Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), and other extremist groups,” the report states. “This violence affects large numbers of Christians and Muslims in several states across Nigeria and targets each religious sites and individuals from religious minority communities.”
Nigeria’s structure declares the country as secular and democratic, but blasphemy laws and sharia (Islamic law) codes result in subjugation of non-Muslims who’re forced to abide by tenets of Islam, the report states. The 1999 structure states that the federal and state governments cannot adopt an official religion, nevertheless it permits using sharia and traditional law courts for noncriminal proceedings on the state level, though it doesn’t compel all residents to abide by them.
At present 12 states in northern Nigeria, in addition to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), have implemented sharia legal frameworks, and a few are applying it in criminal cases, the report states.
“The Nigerian government continues to imprison individuals accused of blasphemy and sometimes fails to pursue perpetrators of violence related to blasphemy allegations,” the report states.
Several people remain incarcerated with long prison sentences because of blasphemy convictions, it states.
“On the opposite hand, there appears to be a willingness on the a part of the Nigerian government, including state governors, to debate the country’s security situation more openly,” the report states. “Nigeria’s government is becoming more energetic in pursuing violent non-state actors who proceed to attack or threaten religious communities.”
Over the spring, the federal government resolved two major kidnapping events: criminals in March released greater than 130 school students in Kaduna state unharmed, and in May, army troops and police units rescued a whole lot of JAS (Jama’at Ahl al-Sunna lid-Dawah wa’al-Jihad)/ Boko Haram-held women and youngsters within the Sambisa forest in northeastern Nigeria. Most of the hostages had been held there for months and even years, the report states.
In its 2024 Annual Report, USCIRF really useful the U.S. Department of State designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) because of the federal government’s engagement in and toleration of particularly severe violations of spiritual freedom.
“The report also outlines several steps the U.S. government can take to handle religious freedom issues in Nigeria, including emphasizing the importance of spiritual freedom considerations in the supply of U.S. foreign assistance funds,” the report states. “This wouldn’t only advance FoRB in Nigeria by helping to create a more sustainable security situation but would also position Nigeria as a stronger bulwark against broader regional conflict affecting religious communities across the Lake Chad basin.”
In Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List (WWL) of the countries where it’s most difficult to be a Christian, Nigeria was ranked No. 6, because it was within the previous yr. Nigeria remained the deadliest place on the earth to follow Christ, with 4,118 people killed for his or her faith from Oct. 1, 2022 to Sept. 30, 2023, in line with the WWL. More kidnappings of Christians than in another country also took place in Nigeria, with 3,300.
Nigeria was also the third highest country in variety of attacks on churches and other Christian buildings corresponding to hospitals, schools, and cemeteries, with 750, in line with the report.
© 2024 Christian Daily International-Morning Star News
