As Nigeria continues to wage war against insecurity, no fewer than 55,910 persons were killed while 21,000 others were abducted by terror groups operating in different parts of the country in the past four years, according to a new study that looked at terror attacks since 2019.
More Nigerians were kidnapped in 2022 than previous years, to the findings of the report, which was released to members of the public on Thursday by The Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa further revealed.
The study, which was obtained by journalists in Jos on Thursday, noted that the over 55,000 victims included both Muslims and Christians, although Christian death tolls are far higher.
The ORFA, which monitors the state of religious freedom, documents rights violations, and informs decision-makers through advocacy lamented that Nigerian citizens were killed by the insurgents while the terror groups enjoyed relative freedom to carry out atrocities against civilians in large regions of Nigeria, “as military pursue targets hundreds of miles away.”
A statement on Thursday by ORFA stressed that only a fraction of civilians were killed by ISIS or al-Qaeda affiliates during the four year period under review.
“Across the country, over 11,000 incidents of extreme violence took place during the data period, with more than 55,000 killings and 21,000 abductions,” the statement by ORFA emphasised.
The statement signed by the organisation’s Data Scientist Frans Vierhout, was titled, “Blind eyes to bloodshed: FulaniEthnic Militia killing Nigerian civilians unopposed.”
According to the statement, the mass killings perpetrated by the terrorists in Nigerian communities are the outcome of a new study covering a period of four years between October 1, 2019 – September 30, 2023.
The details of the mass killings which was made public in a statement on Thursday further read; “Mass killings, abductions and torture of whole families go largely unchallenged as military pursue targets hundreds of miles away, finds four-year data project
“Islamist extremists enjoy relative freedom to carry out atrocities against civilians in large regions of Nigeria, according to data scientists behind a four-year study.
“Researchers at the Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa recorded over 55,000 killings and mapped thousands of farm massacres and mass abductions in a four-year period, including in Nigeria’s fragile North Central Zone and Southern Kaduna.”
“A little-known terror group, the Fulani Ethnic Militia or FEM, commit mass killings hundreds of times a year through this region,” it reported.
The statement specifically noted that 55,910 people were killed in the context of terror groups in Nigeria within the four-year of study.
Continuing, it disclosed, “In the North Central zone alone, 3,007 incidents of extreme violence occurred. 2,010 incidents involved killings, 700 were abduction incidents, and 297 were a combination of killings and abductions.