{"id":5520,"date":"2020-08-19T16:14:31","date_gmt":"2020-08-19T15:14:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/?p=5520"},"modified":"2020-08-19T16:14:37","modified_gmt":"2020-08-19T15:14:37","slug":"analysis-an-assessment-of-the-claims-on-christian-genocide-in-nigeria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/analysis-an-assessment-of-the-claims-on-christian-genocide-in-nigeria\/","title":{"rendered":"Analysis: An Assessment of the Claims On \u2018Christian Genocide\u2019 In Nigeria"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">A Non-Governmental Organisation in Nigeria, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), has regularly released figures since 2018, which it says are evidence of an ongoing genocide against Christians by jihadists and jihadist herdsmen in the country. But an analysis of statistics from reliable sources shows that these claims are inaccurate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Over 1,200 Christians killed in 2020?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">In July, the Family Research Council, a \u201cfundamentalist Protestant\u201d activist group based in the United States, published\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/downloads.frc.org\/EF\/EF20G16.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a report<\/a>\u00a0titled, \u201cThe Crisis of Christian Persecution in Nigeria\u201d,\u00a0 authored by Lela Gilbert, Senior Fellow for International Religious Freedom at the council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cA July 15, 2020 headline reports that 1,202 Nigerian Christians were killed in the first six months of 2020,\u201d Gilbert wrote.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is in addition to 11,000 Christians who have been killed since June 2015. Such violence has reached a point at which expert observers and analysts are warning of a progressive genocide\u2014a \u201cslow-motion war\u201d specifically targeting Christians across Africa\u2019s largest and most economically powerful nation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">She added that reports about the assaults rarely made it to mainstream media outlets and&nbsp; instead \u201cgenerally found in publications sponsored by Christian organisations in their newsletters and websites\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">The report was\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MaziNnamdiKanu\/status\/1290631143432294409\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">shared<\/a>\u00a0on August 4 by a Twitter account that appears to belong to Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). The tweet has since been retweeted nearly 6,000 times and liked by over 4,100 users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Gilbert has made two claims here; that over 1,200 Christians were killed between January and June this year due to extremism and political violence, and 11,000 were killed between 2015 and 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Verifying Gilbert\u2019s claims<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">The source of Gilbert\u2019s first claim is a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianpost.com\/news\/1202-nigerian-christians-killed-in-first-6-months-of-2020-ngo-report.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">July report<\/a>\u00a0by The Christian Post (CP), an interdenominational news website based in the U.S., which in turn referenced\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenigerianvoice.com\/news\/289655\/nigeria-1202-defenceless-christians-hacked-to-death-by-jih.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a report<\/a>\u00a0released in July by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, an advocacy group based in Anambra State, Southwest Nigeria. The report was written by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/emeka-umeagbalasi-9753653a\/?originalSubdomain=ng\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Emeka Umeagbalasi<\/a>, a graduate of Criminology and Security Studies from the National Open University of Nigeria and described by CP as a Christian criminologist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Umeagbalasi said \u201cno fewer than 1,202 defenceless Christians\u201d were hacked to death in the first six months of 2020: including 812 by \u201cJihadist Fulani herdsmen\u201d and 390 killed by Boko Haram, the Islamic State\u2019s West Africa Province (ISWAP), and other groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBetween 1st Jan and 14th May 2020 when we did our last update, not less than 200 Christians were hacked to death by Boko Haram\/ISWAP; and out of over 260 killed by the same Jihadist sect from 15th May to 30th June 2020, not less than 100 were strongly believed to be Christians,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">He added that \u201cwhile 100% of victims of Jihadist Herdsmen killings are Christians, it is symmetrically 60%\/40% or 50%\/50% for Christians and Muslims killed in recent times by Jihadist Boko Haram\/ISWAP\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is unlike in 2009 to 2017 when it was 80% Christian victims and 20% Muslim victims. In other words, Jihadist Herdsmen target and kill Christians only or burn or destroy their properties including dwelling houses, farmlands and worship and learning centres,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">He further\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/intersociety-ng.org\/site-administrator\/downloads\/category\/4-intersociety-advocacy-news?download=813:killing-of-300-christians-in-200-days-of-2020-1st-jan-20th-july-2020-in-southern-kaduna-intersociety-writes-igp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">claimed<\/a>\u00a0that all the areas attacked by \u201cjihadist herdsmen\u201d are Christian communities and there was no evidence showing that Muslims or their properties had been victims. \u201cAnsaru Jihadists, on their part, strictly kill Christians including abducted foreigners while asymmetric Muslim deaths in their hands are seen as accidental occurring under exceptional situations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">The group, Intersociety, said from July 2009 to 2020, 32,000 Christian lives had been lost: 15,000 deaths caused by herdsmen and 16,800 by Boko Haram and ISWAP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">While the report did not provide references for its statistics, it occasionally cited a few news websites and said it obtained certain figures from groups such as the Southern Kaduna People\u2019s Union, Adara Development Association, Tiv Youth Forum, Tiv Cultural and Social Association, \u201cas well as other dependable sources\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAttached below is a separate file containing \u2018Statistical Sources\u2019 of this research report,\u201d Umeagbalasi wrote at the end of the report. But HumAngle could not find this document. A search through the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/intersociety-ng.org\/site-administrator\/downloads\/category\/4-intersociety-advocacy-news\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">group\u2019s website<\/a>\u00a0yielded no result or additional information about the claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Comparing with other sources<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Incidents of politically motivated violence in Nigeria, including acts of terrorism and banditry, are prominently catalogued by the Nigeria Security Tracker (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/nigeria\/nigeria-security-tracker\/p29483\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NST<\/a>), a project of the Council of Foreign Relations, and the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (<a href=\"https:\/\/acleddata.com\/curated-data-files\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ACLED<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">NST is a project of the Council of Foreign Relations that collects data from multiple sources, especially press reports. ACLED, on the other hand, is an independent, non-profit based in the United States and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/acleddata.com\/about-acled\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">acclaimed<\/a>\u00a0as the \u201cmost widely used real-time data and analysis source on political violence and protest around the world\u201d. It sources data from state authorities, news reports, humanitarian organisations, and research publications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Both data sets are detailed and provide sources for each entry, but generally do not indicate the religion of the aggressors and victims. There is, therefore, no evidence to corroborate the claim that a certain percentage of the casualties are either Muslim or Christian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law said that at least 1,202 Christians were killed between January and June 2020 by jihadists and Fulani herdsmen. The group also said between July 2009 and June 2020, 32,000 Christians lost their lives to the activities of these groups. But the figures are inconsistent with data from reliable sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">According to ACLED, which has gathered data dating back to 1997, between July 2009 and July 2020, 61,782 lives have been lost in total to various forms of violence, including attacks, armed clashes, battles, explosions, riots, and so on across the country.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Of this number, the civilian casualties number 33,058. And out of this figure, only 21,282 deaths were recorded to have been caused by jihadists, including the Boko Haram group, ISWAP, and Ansaru, as well as other groups described as Fulani ethnic militia (including herdsmen), Hausa ethnic militia, Muslim militia, Islamist militia, and other similar terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Using this disaggregation, between January and June 2020, only 661 civilian deaths were recorded by ACLED to have been caused by these groups. This, in other words, means the total number of deaths caused by jihadists and herdsmen in the periods are significantly below the number of Christian deaths as claimed by the Anambra-based advocacy group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Verifying with data from the Security Tracker<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">A similar trend is established by the security tracker, which covered events from May 2011 till date. It states that there have been a total of 72,092 deaths\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/nigeria\/nigeria-security-tracker\/p29483\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">recorded<\/a>\u00a0in the period. As of June 2020, however, there were 25,360 civilian deaths\u3161including from violent incidents that occurred outside Northern Nigeria.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">The NST also provides data on the locations of attacks, ranging from government offices to schools, banks, mosques, and churches. The data shows that between 2011 and 2020, there have been 168 attacks of churches in the country and 118 attacks of mosques. However, while the number of casualties recorded in attacks against churches is 2,009, that of mosques is slightly more at 2,242.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The figures don\u2019t add up<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">When we reached out to Umeagbalasi for the \u201cstatistical sources\u201d of the group\u2019s claims, he emailed a 24-page document (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/472451238\/File-Containing-Statistical-Sources-on-Christian-Killing-in-Nigeria-Intersociety\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">available here<\/a>) titled\u00a0<em>Intersociety\u2019s Statistical Data File Backing Our Reports On Massacre Of Christians In Nigeria<\/em>\u00a0and last updated on August 5.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">It lists at least 107 violent attacks that took place between June 14 2019 and July 31 2020, citing sources that range from the Church of the Brethren (EYN) to the National Security Tracker, eyewitness accounts, one\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/342832459_INSURGENCY_ARMED_HERDSMEN_AND_INSTABILITY_IN_NIGERIA_A_SEARCH_FOR_THE_WAY_FORWARD\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">academic paper<\/a>, and the Adara Development Association.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">It also cited news websites such as Vanguard, The Sun, Ecocity News, Channels Television, This Day, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Global Sentinel, Daily Post, Christian Persecution, International, among others. Six of the items were, however, not attributed to any source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">A study of the document revealed that it is not structured to prevent the repetition of death tolls; also the religion of victims of attacks are not always confirmed, as some reports contradict official statements about violent incidents, and others are not in reference to particular attacks but a set of past events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">HumAngle\u2019s breakdown (<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/spreadsheets\/d\/1s061RhF7-gWqSWgfAmjpv4RgHopXLIgRimxBcBR2cME\/edit?usp=sharing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">available here<\/a>) further shows that, if all the casualties were summed up based on the report, there would have been 1,036 fatalities and 130 victims of abduction between June 2019 and July 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">If the period is limited to the first six months of 2020, the people killed by terrorists and herdsmen numbered 786 while those abducted were 33. This falls short of what was claimed in its report where it said at least \u201c1,202 defenceless Christians\u201d were killed between January and June.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2018Our reports are forensic\u2019 \u3161 Intersociety<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">In an interview with HumAngle on Thursday, however, Intersociety insisted it did not exaggerate its reports.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThat is why we have been doing it monthly or bimonthly, and we have our people on the ground, especially from the troubled areas. Our reports have been forensic,\u201d the group\u2019s Board Chairman, Umeagbalasi, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">He explained that the group\u2019s&nbsp; investigations sometimes contradicted claims from the police about the nature of violent attacks and number of people killed. It concluded that certain attacks were targeted at Christians by non-Christians and that it&nbsp; raised questions the police were unable to answer and using circumstantial evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur organisation is a widely quoted organisation anywhere in the world with respect to the killing of Christians in Nigeria. As the head of the organisation who has been in the field of activism for over 25 years, I am also a trained criminologist and graduate of security studies. It gives me an edge on how to investigate,\u201d Umeagbalasi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe don\u2019t just say things; we follow things systematically\u2026&nbsp; You know what it means for an organisation to earn international credibility. You must have been monitored over time and all that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">He added that Intersociety was the only organisation in the country with a \u201cvery wide and extensive network with respect to those killings\u201d, and no government agency has challenged its work.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Misquoting the GTI<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">According to Umeagbalasi, in a separate piece\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.genocidewatch.com\/single-post\/2020\/04\/13\/Nigeria-Is-A-Killing-Field-Of-Defenseless-Christians\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">published<\/a>\u00a0by Genocide Watch in April, the 2019 Global Terrorism Index (GTI) stated that \u201c2,040 Christians were killed by radicalised Fulani militants in Nigeria in 2018 alone\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">A look through the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/visionofhumanity.org\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/GTI-2019web.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">document<\/a>, however, shows that no such quote is contained in it. The word \u201cChristian\u201d appears only once, on page 92, in the sentence: \u201cTensions between the Fulani, majority\u00a0 of whom are Muslim, and farmers, of whom the majority in Nigeria for example are Christian, is largely driven by economic causes and low levels of Positive Peace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">The report noted population increases, resource scarcity, and desertification as the causes of the conflict between the two groups, not religious differences, which had existed long before the interactions became strained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Also, the Global Terrorism Index report did not say 2,040 Christians were killed in 2018 by Fulani militants as claimed but gave this figure as the total number of deaths as a result of terrorism that year. This included killings caused by Fulani extremists, Boko Haram fighters, as well as other armed groups. Also, data captured by the GTI report did not specifically address non-Christian killings.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Asked about this discrepancy, Umeagbalasi simply said his organisation \u201chas taken ownership\u201d of the statistics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Are herdsmen killing only Christians?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">According to Umeagbalasi, everyone killed and abducted by Fulani herdsmen were Christians. \u201c100 percent of their victims are Christians, Christian learning centres, and Christian worship centres,\u201d he told HumAngle, emphasising a much-repeated claim in his reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey took a stance that no (killing of) Muslims, it is Christians entirely. Those we have come across as victims of Fulani herdsmen killing were all Christians. No single Muslim.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Dr Kabir Adamu, a security consultant and Managing Director of Beacon Consulting, however, said this was not true as far as figures available to him showed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe targeting is not done based on an ideological, ethnic, or even social behaviours\u2026 The victims are targeted because of where they reside and as a result of whatever anger is driving the attackers, but not because of their religious affiliation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">He explained that in a place like Zamfara, most of the victims (99 percent) were&nbsp; (Hausa and, sometimes, Fulani) Muslims\u3161\u201dfor the simple reason that majority of the residents in the two states a Muslim and it makes sense that the victims would be Muslims\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHowever, if you move farther out into Kaduna and Niger States, as an example, where there is a 50:50 variation in the population of Muslims and Christians, then you would say perhaps the victims too would cut across that proportion,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">He&nbsp; said he did not think any organisation had&nbsp; gathered enough data to analyse victims of terrorism and banditry on the basis of faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt would not be scientific to come to that kind of conclusion. To come to that kind of conclusion, it means you have identified, documented all the victims and, through your analysis, you are able to know their religion, and I doubt anyone has been able to do that,\u201d Adamu concluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking to Punch Newspaper last year, Hassan Dantawaye, who led a group of herdsmen-bandits in Zamfara before renouncing violence,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/punchng.com\/we-decided-to-kill-50-people-for-every-slain-herdsman-head-of-zamfara-bandits-who-renounced-violence\/#:~:text=They%20killed%20any%20Fulani%20man,action%20to%20stop%20the%20menace.&amp;text=From%20that%20day%2C%20we%20decided,one%20of%20us%20was%20killed.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">had said<\/a>\u00a0they were pushed into crime due to an increasing trend of unaddressed cattle rustling which rendered many of them unemployed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2018The conflict is not that straight-forward\u2019<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Christian news websites such as\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.catholicculture.org\/news\/headlines\/index.cfm?storyid=44821\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Catholic Culture<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/christianpersecution.com\/nigeria\/nigeria-muslim-fulani-herdsmen-kill-14-baptist-christians-in-kogi-state\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Christian Persecution<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianpost.com\/news\/muslim-fulani-herdsmen-kill-16-christians-in-nigeria-govt-condemned-for-inaction.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Christian Post<\/a>, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/christianresponse.org\/news\/muslim-fulani-herdsmen-kill-11-christians-in-attack-in-north-central-nigeria\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">so on<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.s4c.news\/2020\/07\/24\/muslim-fulani-herdsmen-killed-eleven-christians-in-nigeria\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">often<\/a>\u00a0present violent events in Nigeria\u2019s northern region as being driven by religious motives, but analysts say it is not that simple.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">John Campbell, a Ralph Bunche Senior Fellow for Africa Policy Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/blog\/conflict-nigeria-more-complicated-christians-vs-muslims\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">observed<\/a>\u00a0that linking tragedies in Nigeria to a \u201cperceived global trend of violence against Christians\u201d mischaracterised the nature of the conflicts and overlooked important nuances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cChristians are certainly murdered in Nigeria, and in some cases, they are murdered because they are Christian. But, despite Boko Haram\u2019s murderous hostility to Christians, most of its victims have always been Muslim, not least because the insurgency takes place in a predominantly Muslim part of the country,\u201d he said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFor what it is worth, data from the NST shows a decline in Boko Haram attacks on churches and an increase in attacks on mosques over time. Indeed, the smaller number of Christian deaths at the hands of Boko Haram likely reflects the fact that most of them have fled.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">He concluded that \u201cviolence may fall along ethnic and religious lines, but it is not necessarily driven by those distinctions\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">An influential Catholic bishop, Matthew Kukah, agreed in August that Christians are not the only targets of extremists in the country. \u201c[T]hese killings are not to be narrowed down to Christians because they have been far worse in the predominantly Muslim north in such states as Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara,\u201d he\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/acnuk.org\/news\/nigeria-bishop-kukah-genocide-is-happening-in-nigeria\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">explained<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Bulama Bukarti, an analyst at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, has also confirmed that Muslims living in the north were unmistakably more at the receiving end of Boko Haram\u2019s activities. \u201cMake no mistake, Boko Haram has by far killed more Muslims than Christians and every Nigerian in the northeast requires protection,\u201d he\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bulamabukarti\/status\/1255896483162882048\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a>\u00a0in April, adding that in areas where ISWAP is more active, Christians were \u201cat higher risk and deserve more security\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\">Based on publicly available evidence and expert analyses, therefore, some of the sweeping claims made by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law are inaccurate. While it is clear that Nigerians of various backgrounds have been victimised to varying degrees by raging insecurity, it will be impossible using existing records to say precisely how many members of each group have paid the supreme price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>The researcher produced this fact-check per the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/\" target=\"_blank\">Dubawa<\/a> 2020 <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/call-for-applications\/\" target=\"_blank\">Fellowship<\/a> partnership with Humangle to facilitate the ethos of \u201ctruth\u201d in journalism and enhance media literacy in the country.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Non-Governmental Organisation in Nigeria, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), has regularly released figures since 2018, which it says are evidence of an ongoing genocide against Christians by jihadists and jihadist herdsmen in the country. But an analysis of statistics from reliable sources shows that these claims are inaccurate. Over 1,200 Christians killed in 2020? In July, the Family Research Council, a \u201cfundamentalist Protestant\u201d activist group based in the United States, published\u00a0a report\u00a0titled, \u201cThe Crisis of Christian Persecution in Nigeria\u201d,\u00a0 authored by Lela Gilbert, Senior Fellow for International Religious Freedom at the council. \u201cA July 15, 2020 headline reports that 1,202 Nigerian Christians were killed in the first six months of 2020,\u201d Gilbert wrote.&nbsp; \u201cThis is in addition to 11,000 Christians who have been killed since June 2015. Such violence has reached a point at which expert observers and analysts are warning of a progressive genocide\u2014a \u201cslow-motion war\u201d specifically targeting Christians across Africa\u2019s largest and most economically powerful nation.\u201d She added that reports about the assaults rarely made it to mainstream media outlets and&nbsp; instead \u201cgenerally found in publications sponsored by Christian organisations in their newsletters and websites\u201d. The report was\u00a0shared\u00a0on August 4 by a Twitter account that appears to belong to Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). The tweet has since been retweeted nearly 6,000 times and liked by over 4,100 users. Gilbert has made two claims here; that over 1,200 Christians were killed between January and June this year due to extremism and political violence, and 11,000 were killed between 2015 and 2019. Verifying Gilbert\u2019s claims The source of Gilbert\u2019s first claim is a\u00a0July report\u00a0by The Christian Post (CP), an interdenominational news website based in the U.S., which in turn referenced\u00a0a report\u00a0released in July by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, an advocacy group based in Anambra State, Southwest Nigeria. The report was written by\u00a0Emeka Umeagbalasi, a graduate of Criminology and Security Studies from the National Open University of Nigeria and described by CP as a Christian criminologist. Umeagbalasi said \u201cno fewer than 1,202 defenceless Christians\u201d were hacked to death in the first six months of 2020: including 812 by \u201cJihadist Fulani herdsmen\u201d and 390 killed by Boko Haram, the Islamic State\u2019s West Africa Province (ISWAP), and other groups. \u201cBetween 1st Jan and 14th May 2020 when we did our last update, not less than 200 Christians were hacked to death by Boko Haram\/ISWAP; and out of over 260 killed by the same Jihadist sect from 15th May to 30th June 2020, not less than 100 were strongly believed to be Christians,\u201d he said. He added that \u201cwhile 100% of victims of Jihadist Herdsmen killings are Christians, it is symmetrically 60%\/40% or 50%\/50% for Christians and Muslims killed in recent times by Jihadist Boko Haram\/ISWAP\u201d. \u201cThis is unlike in 2009 to 2017 when it was 80% Christian victims and 20% Muslim victims. In other words, Jihadist Herdsmen target and kill Christians only or burn or destroy their properties including dwelling houses, farmlands and worship and learning centres,\u201d he said. He further\u00a0claimed\u00a0that all the areas attacked by \u201cjihadist herdsmen\u201d are Christian communities and there was no evidence showing that Muslims or their properties had been victims. \u201cAnsaru Jihadists, on their part, strictly kill Christians including abducted foreigners while asymmetric Muslim deaths in their hands are seen as accidental occurring under exceptional situations,\u201d he said. The group, Intersociety, said from July 2009 to 2020, 32,000 Christian lives had been lost: 15,000 deaths caused by herdsmen and 16,800 by Boko Haram and ISWAP. While the report did not provide references for its statistics, it occasionally cited a few news websites and said it obtained certain figures from groups such as the Southern Kaduna People\u2019s Union, Adara Development Association, Tiv Youth Forum, Tiv Cultural and Social Association, \u201cas well as other dependable sources\u201d. \u201cAttached below is a separate file containing \u2018Statistical Sources\u2019 of this research report,\u201d Umeagbalasi wrote at the end of the report. But HumAngle could not find this document. A search through the\u00a0group\u2019s website\u00a0yielded no result or additional information about the claims. Comparing with other sources Incidents of politically motivated violence in Nigeria, including acts of terrorism and banditry, are prominently catalogued by the Nigeria Security Tracker (NST), a project of the Council of Foreign Relations, and the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED).\u00a0 NST is a project of the Council of Foreign Relations that collects data from multiple sources, especially press reports. ACLED, on the other hand, is an independent, non-profit based in the United States and\u00a0acclaimed\u00a0as the \u201cmost widely used real-time data and analysis source on political violence and protest around the world\u201d. It sources data from state authorities, news reports, humanitarian organisations, and research publications. Both data sets are detailed and provide sources for each entry, but generally do not indicate the religion of the aggressors and victims. There is, therefore, no evidence to corroborate the claim that a certain percentage of the casualties are either Muslim or Christian. The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law said that at least 1,202 Christians were killed between January and June 2020 by jihadists and Fulani herdsmen. The group also said between July 2009 and June 2020, 32,000 Christians lost their lives to the activities of these groups. But the figures are inconsistent with data from reliable sources. According to ACLED, which has gathered data dating back to 1997, between July 2009 and July 2020, 61,782 lives have been lost in total to various forms of violence, including attacks, armed clashes, battles, explosions, riots, and so on across the country.&nbsp; Of this number, the civilian casualties number 33,058. And out of this figure, only 21,282 deaths were recorded to have been caused by jihadists, including the Boko Haram group, ISWAP, and Ansaru, as well as other groups described as Fulani ethnic militia (including herdsmen), Hausa ethnic militia, Muslim militia, Islamist militia, and other similar terms. Using this disaggregation, between January<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5521,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"hannibal_claim_source":"","hannibal_source_label":"","hannibal_card_color":"blue","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[4,123,119],"tags":[76,1206,347,255,1207],"verdict":[],"ppma_author":[879],"class_list":["post-5520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-mainstream","category-security","tag-boko-haram","tag-christian-genocide","tag-featured","tag-herdsmen","tag-nigerian-christains"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8R6dE-1r2","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":879,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"kunleadebajo","display_name":"Kunle Adebajo","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/485f0ab7cc43a7addf6c6d0c1943961952e0364f483da606e785bfa80042ed8f?s=96&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"Adebajo","first_name":"Kunle","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Burnt-church.jpeg?fit=601%2C470&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5520\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5520"},{"taxonomy":"verdict","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/verdict?post=5520"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=5520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}