Fulani herdsmen and other “bandit” terrorists often allied with them killed more civilians in Nigeria over a four-year period than Islamic extremist groups Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a new report states.
“Other Terrorist Groups,” commonly called “Fulani bandits,” killed 12,039 civilians from October 2019 to September 2023, while “Armed Fulani Herdsmen” killed 11,948 civilians, according to the Aug. 29 report by the Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA).
The better-known Boko Haram and ISWAP combined killed just 3,079 civilians, the ORFA report stated.
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The Fulani herdsmen form part of the Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM), and it is believed that part of the “Other Terrorist Groups” known as “Fulani bandits” are connected to the FEM, according to the report.
“It implies that FEM is a much bigger factor in the Nigerian culture of violence than Boko Haram and ISWAP,” the ORFA report stated.
Most of the victims were Christians, according to the report.
“The data shows that more Nigerian Christians were victims of violence than Nigerians holding to other religious affiliations,” it stated. “Amongst the 30,880 civilians killed in the four-year reporting period, the number of Christians killed was 16,769, while the number of Muslims killed was 6,235.”
Of 21,532 civilians abducted, 11,185 were Christians, while the number of Muslims abducted was 7,899, the report stated. Members of African Traditional Religions (ATRs) killed numbered 154, and 184 were kidnapped, while the religions of 7,722 civilians killed and 2,264 abducted was unknown, according to ORFA.
Taking into account the relative sizes of the Christian and Muslim populations within the states researched, the ratio of Christians to Muslims killed was 6.5 to 1, and the ratio of Christians to Muslims abducted at 5.1 to 1, according to the report.
“The ratio of Christians to Muslims killed rises significantly when the religious composition of the states is taken into consideration” in comparison with the overall numbers, which show a ratio of Christians to Muslims killed at 2.7 to 1, and the ratio of Christians to Muslims abducted at 1.4 to 1, the report stated.
In the total of civilians and security personnel, 55,910 people were killed in 9,970 attacks, while 21,621 people were abducted in 2,705 attacks, with some overlap. ORFA documented 11,610 attacks in which people were killed and/or abducted, and of these, 8,905 involved killings without abductions; 1,065 involved both killings and abductions; and 1,640 involved abductions without killings.
“This is an average of eight attacks per day involving killings and/or abductions over a four-year period,” the report stated. “These numbers include attacks with civilians, Security Forces and/or Terror Groups killed and abducted.”
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Muslims were killed by the same groups that killed Christians, although with different percentages: 55 percent of the Christians slain were killed by Armed Fulani Herdsmen (9,153) and 29 percent by Other Terrorist Groups (4,895). Boko Haram and ISWAP combined accounted for just 8 percent of the Christians killed (1,268), the report states.
For Muslims, it was the reverse: 24 percent of the Muslims slain were killed by Armed Fulani Herdsmen (1,473), and 53 percent by Other Terrorist Groups (3,334). Boko Haram and ISWAP combined accounted for just 12 percent of the Muslims killed (770).
The main area for Armed Fulani Herdsmen attacks was in Nigeria’s North Central Region, including the southern part of Kaduna state; for Other Terrorist Groups, it was the North West, also crossing into North Central, according to the report. The main area of operation for Boko Haram and ISWAP was in the North East.
“The epicenter of violent attacks was in the North West and North Central,” the report noted. “Most civilian killings took place in the North West (11,626) and North Central (8,789). The North East followed with 5,521 civilians killed.”
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For Christians these numbers were 5,250 killed in the North West, 6,081 in the North Central and 2,595 in the North East; for Muslims, they were 3,678, 1,106 and 1,262 respectively.
In the four-year reporting period, the North West was the epicenter of abductions, followed by the North Central.
Nigeria was also the third highest country in number of attacks on churches and other Christian buildings such as hospitals, schools, and cemeteries, with 750, according to the report.
In the 2024 WWL of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, Nigeria was ranked No. 6, as it was in the previous year.
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