Nigeria at the Crossroads (3)

Source: FSSPX News

Map showing priests captured or killed in Nigeria in 2022

Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) provides invaluable assistance to Catholics in dire situations around the world. It has published a report on Nigeria where Catholics have suffered for decades and are paying a staggering blood tax. The first two articles dealt with the political and religious situations.

Recent Overview

ACN has named the country one of the most dangerous countries for Christians in the world. The 2022 Global Terrorism Index ranked Nigeria 6th (after Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Burkina Faso, and Syria) and the 2022 Global Peace Index ranked it 143rd out of 163 countries.

The situation has become increasingly complex over the past decade: poor social, cultural, and educational conditions, as well as political mismanagement and corruption, are a major factor. But some conflicts have religious and ethnic implications.

When discussing violence and conflict in Nigeria, it is important to understand that attacks come from many different directions and it is often difficult to understand the boundaries between outright persecution, Islamic extremism, historical ethnic rivalries, and simple banditry.

While conflicts have different roots, almost all combine a set of elements, with tribalism and religiosity being two elements that are difficult to ignore. This is true for Africa in general and for Nigeria in particular. Conflicts can be categorized according to the following framework:

3.1. Militant Islamists

3.2. Violence linked to armed bandits and criminality

3.3. Farmer-herder conflicts

3.4. Communal and ethnic clashes

3.5. Biafran separatists

3.6. Niger Delta militants

3.7. Occultism and ritual killings

3.8. Militant Islamists

Boko Haram and ISWAP (Islamic State in West Africa) militants. Most of the incidents involving militant Islamists have occurred in Borno State, where Boko Haram is active.

ISWAP operates near Lake Chad and Boko Haram in the Sambisa Forest. But in 2022, the Islamists expanded their zone of ​​operation southward, increasing their activities in areas closer to the Federal Capital Territory and Niger State. A militant Islamist group, Ansaru, which split from Boko Haram in early 2012, has been active in areas around Abuja.

A few reminders of the numbers. According to the Council on Foreign Relations’ Nigeria Security Tracker, more than 41,600 people have been killed in Nigeria in the conflict with Boko Haram, including civilians, Boko Haram fighters, and government officials. Other sources put the number at more than 65,000 killed by Boko Haram between 2011 and 2022.

The most targeted group has been Christians, who have had their places of worship devastated, have often been attacked and killed along the roads, and have had their livelihoods destroyed. It is important to note, however, that the fact that terrorist groups operate in states with predominantly Muslim populations means that the violence also affects Muslims.

Lack of governance and widespread poverty have led to the proliferation of banditry, with some reports suggesting that there are up to 30,000 bandits in 100 gangs. Some gangs may have as many as 2,000 members.

It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between armed groups with regional political ambitions and economic interests and the Islamists. Some armed groups infiltrated by Al-Qaeda or ISIS, and incited by radical preachers, seek to impose a strict version of Islam.

Over the past seven years, the North-West and North-Central regions have seen the highest concentration of kidnappings in the country. The ransoms collected from these kidnappings – sometimes on a massive scale – have become a business for criminal gangs.

Links have also been reported between bandits and Islamist terrorist groups for economic reasons. One of the victims kidnapped in 2020 in Kaduna by bandits, told ACN that the criminals’ first idea was to sell them to Boko Haram but after a few days, they decided to demand a ransom from their families.

Kaduna State is one of the hardest hit by the wave of violence and crime that is sweeping across much of Nigeria. “In the last three years, eight of my priests have been kidnapped, two have been killed and one has been held captive for almost four years. Five have been released.

“In many parishes, priests cannot stay in their rectories: they are seen as an easy source of money for ransoms. I cannot do pastoral visits, priests cannot go to the villages. With this insecurity, people are deprived of the sacraments,” says Archbishop Matthew Man-Oso Ndagoso of Kaduna.

“Everyone is on edge. People are afraid, people are traumatized, and rightly so. With this situation, no one is safe anywhere. If you go out of your house, even during the day, you are not safe until you go back,” he added.

This conflict has caused more deaths than Boko Haram. In addition, it combines struggles for resources with political, religious, and ethnic elements. Access to land and pastures has always been a challenge for nomads and sedentary communities, governed by a balance based on agreements concerning paths and roads to take.

Originally, the lack of resources, population growth, the need for agricultural space, but also the increase in cattle herds have broken the balance. In addition, the clashes today take place with modern weapons, which plays a sad role in the dimension of the conflict.

However, competition for resources is too often used as a pretext to kill and mutilate according to ethnic or religious criteria. The conflict has also been politicized by certain state officials who have fueled the tensions.

The fact that Fulani herders are nomadic means that they are often neglected by the authorities and feel discriminated against. Some of them have no education and live in very precarious conditions. This frustration is used by terrorist and criminal groups to recruit them.

Who Are the Fulani?

“Fulani”, as they are widely known in Nigeria, is the Hausa name for the Fulɓe people who have been adopted into English. In French, the word Peul(s) is used, which comes from Wolof. This ethnic group is widespread in West Africa, from Mauritania to Nigeria and Niger, and across parts of Central Africa to Sudan.

Due to their wide geographical distribution, they are not a homogeneous group, but are considered the largest pastoral population in Africa and the largest nomadic pastoralist community in the world. Some sources speak of 35 to 40 million people.

They mainly raise cattle, as well as sheep and goats. Most pastoral families also practice subsistence farming – maize, sorghum, and millet, vegetables such as sweet potato and cowpeas – although livestock is their main activity, at the heart of their culture.

The Fulani are predominantly Muslim, but there is also a significant Christian Fulani minority. In this context, another important fact is that the Fulani have established empires on three occasions in history: the theocratic state of Fouta Djallon in Middle Guinea (18th century), the Fulani Empire of Macina in Mali (19th century) and the Fulani Empire or Sultanate of Sokoto in Nigeria (19th century).

Although the Fulani no longer control any state today, it is important to understand their role in the rise of Islam in West Africa, which fuels fear and reminds Christians and non-Muslims of the dark days of slavery and forced conversion.

There are between 12 and 16 million Fulani in Nigeria (6 to 8% of the population), but not all are nomadic. According to reports provided to ACN during its research trips, most of the Fulani who cause problems in Nigeria appear to be from neighboring countries.

The Fulani herdsmen’s migratory route runs from Lake Chad in the northeast to the Lagos region in the southwest, crossing the country diagonally. Depending on the circumstances – season, harvest progress, crop conditions, and livestock numbers – serious conflicts occur, especially in Plateau, Taraba, and Benue states, which are predominantly populated by Christian farmers.

It is difficult to know to what extent Islamism and jihad play a role in this violence. ACN partners speak of a “hidden agenda” as the Fulani have invaded the lands of predominantly Christian farmers, killing, raping, injuring, and ravaging villages and towns, thus causing a mass exodus of Christians who see their lives and futures in danger.

The problem is further complicated by the almost total absence of political response. The inaction of the federal government is the subject of many complaints. The fact that the president of Nigeria [in 2023. Editor’s note], Muhammadu Buhari, is a Fulani, has raised suspicions and even accusations of failure to condemn and pursue the systematic attacks by Fulani militias.

The audacity with which they move to all corners of Nigeria in search of pasture for their cattle is unmatched, and they regularly encroach on farmland throughout the country, well armed, and act with impunity. The lack of serious prosecutions reinforces the conviction that they have the support of the federal government. There is no conclusive evidence that this is the case.

But the lack of will to stop these crimes makes it difficult to convince many Nigerians that there is no link between the unilateral appointment of officials and the failure to prosecute the perpetrators and what appears to be a selective massacre of Christians. This is indeed the conviction of many bishops in Nigeria.

The sense of injustice and frustration among the victims – due to the impunity of the perpetrators – is immense and, in some parts of the country, vigilante groups have been formed. This factor further complicates the conflict, but it is considered the only solution to end the violent attacks by Fulani herdsmen in many places.

Due to the sheer number and scale of the conflicts in which the Fulani ethnic group is involved, the Global Terrorism Index lists them as an ethnic terrorist group. The following points should be noted.

On the one hand, organizations have complained that reports tend to ignore the violence against Fulani communities, which is common in central and northern Nigeria. For example, most media and NGO reports refer to “violence between herders and farming communities” and describe the problem as clashes between two equal parties.

This may have been the case initially, but today the victims are mainly farmers. The losses and damages are not comparable. Entire villages have been destroyed, land has been burned, and many people have been forced to flee. Benue State alone has 2 million displaced people, most of them farmers.

From 2017 to early May 2020, there have been 654 attacks on Christian farmers: Fulani killed 2,539, injured over 393, abducted over 253, raped 16 women and girls, and destroyed 7,582 homes and 24 churches.

On the other hand, it is also wrong to stigmatize an entire ethnic group. Animosity has grown towards the Fulani, and it is easy to refer to the bandit gangs in the northwest of the country, often composed of Fulani, as “Fulani extremists” rather than “bandits,” when the violence is carried out by criminals from other ethnic groups.