A Nigerian bishop has said that anti-Christian violence is reaching “genocidal” levels and has urged more recognition of the risks posed by militant Islam.
Despite being around 50 per cent Christian, every 12 months more Christians are killed for his or her faith in Nigeria than in some other country. The key driver is violence from militant Islamist groups like Boko Haram and the Islamic Fulani Herdsmen.
In August the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), estimated that over 7,000 Christians were killed in Nigeria for the reason that starting of the 12 months. Violence will be particularly bad during Christian festivals, with Bishop Wilfred Anagbe recently telling the British House of Lords that Christmas massacres had turn out to be “customary” in parts of the country.
Now Bishop John Bakeni, from Maiduguri Diocese, Nigeria, has raised similar concerns with the British Parliament, stressing that religion is certainly one of the important thing motivators of the violence and must not be ignored or dismissed by the international community.
“Whilst the conflict isn’t solely about religion, it’s equally simplistic to not see the religious dimension as a significantly exacerbating factor especially as churches, priests and other potent symbols of Christianity are attacked, seemingly with impunity,” he said.
“Over the past few years, violence has intensified – including horrendous massacres up to now 12 months – in most of the attacks, the militants often first goal the churches.”
Nigerian security services have often been criticised for his or her lack of motion, even when advance warning of attacks has been given. In other cases the safety forces have simply not been well equipped enough to take care of the militants.
In June, greater than 270 people died when Fulani militants rampaged through Yelewata, Benue State.
Speaking of the attack, Bishop Bakeni said: “The first place they attacked was the local Catholic church, mercifully a small police patrol held them off, but as an alternative they targeted the undefended centre of town.”
In some parts of Nigeria, the bishop said, Christian communities have been completely erased by the extremists, adding that in some areas the attacks had “assumed genocidal character” with “over 1,000 vulnerable individuals” killed in a single night.
In the bishop’s own Diocese of Maiduguri over 200 churches and chapels were damaged by Boko Haram by spring 2017, while within the Borno State 1.8 million people were displaced by the violence.
Many of the women kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014 remain in captivity, although the bulk have now been accounted for.
Bishop Bakeni added, “We have to be brave and have the courage of our convictions to say, whilst the causes are complex, climate change never kidnapped the Chibok girls, killed priests, or burned down churches.”
