Nigeria continues to face a multifaceted security crisis marked by widespread violence, particularly against religious communities, resulting in the killing of 55,910 people in 9,970 attacks, while 21,621 people were abducted in 2,705 in four years.

A graphical illustration of gunmen.

According to the new investigative report released on Thursday by The Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa, the data presented in the report covered four years from 1 October 2019 to 30 September 2023, and provided critical insights into the patterns and dynamics of the violent attacks.

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.”

ORFA documented 11,610 distinct attacks in which people were killed and/or abducted. Out of these, 8,905 involved killings without abductions; 1,065 involved both killings and abductions; 1,640 involved abductions without killings.

This is an average of 8 attacks per day involving killings and/or abductions over a 4-year period. These numbers include attacks with civilians, Security Forces and/or Terror Groups killed and abducted.

“Many civilians lived in high levels of insecurity and fear of the unexpected. For instance, eye witnesses talked about children sleeping in trees at night. In total 30,880 civilians were killed in 6,942 attacks. The remaining 25,030 people killed were members of the Security Forces or Terror Groups. Additionally, 21,532 civilians were abducted in 2,670 attacks. Another 89 people abducted were members of the Security Forces or Terror Groups.

“There were frequent clashes between Security Forces and Terror Groups and between Terror Groups themselves. This had impact on civilians too. In 3,028 attacks (out of the 9,970 attacks with killings) only non-civilians were killed: 4,377 were members of the Security Forces and 19,323 members of Terror Groups. In 35 attacks (out of the 2,705 attacks with abductions) only non-civilians were abducted: 68 belonging to the Security Forces and 2 to Terror Groups.”

The data showed that more Nigerian Christians were victims of violence than Nigerians holding to other religious affiliations.

Amongst the 30,880 civilians killed in the 4-year reporting period, the number of Christians killed was 16,769, while the number of Muslims killed was 6,235.

Among the 21,532 civilians abducted, the number of Christians abducted was 11,185, while the number of Muslims abducted was 7,899.

The number of African Traditional Religionists (ATRs) killed was 154 and the number of ATRs abducted was 184. The religious identity of 7,722 civilians killed and 2,264 civilians abducted remained unknown.

The ratio of Christians to Muslims killed rose significantly when the religious composition of the states is taken into consideration.

Looking at the overall numbers, the ratio of Christians to Muslims killed was 2.7:1; the ratio of Christians to Muslims abducted was 1.4:1.

However, when taking into account the relative sizes of the Christian and Muslim populations within the different states, the ratio of Christians to Muslims killed increases to 6.5:1, and the ratio of Christians to Muslims abducted to 5.1:1, the report noted.

Also, 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 were 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.