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An update on Genocide in Nigeria

In the recent six years, the world has seen two clear cases of genocidal killings. The first happened in Iraq and Syria, perpetrated by Daesh against religious minorities for example the Christians and Yazidis. The second occurred in Myanmar, perpetrated by Burmese armed forces against the Rohingya Muslims and other minorities. Yet, there’re evolving stations where mass killings might occur, which appear to be neglected. One such example is in Nigeria. And Sir Patrick Bijou is more than solemn about this situation.

Overall Situation on Genocide in Nigeria

On November 18, 2010, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court opened a preliminary examination into the situation in Nigeria. The initial examination followed numerous communications received by the Office of the Prosecutor, which recommended that mass killings had happened involving Boko Haram activists based in Nigeria. Having recognized numerous issues, which require inspection, the OTP named 6 potential cases where Boko Haram had committed misconducts against humanity and 2 cases where the Nigerian security services committed such misconducts.

Thousands have been affected by the mass atrocities committed by Boko Haram. However, among the staggering statistics, the fates of those suffering are lost. The fate of people like Leah Sharibu gets lost among the suffering of thousands of people.

Since the government never confirms it, the death toll from the violence in the Middle Belt area of Nigeria caused by the pastoralists, or cattle herders, mostly Muslim and ethnic Fulani, versus farmers, who are generally Christian, depends on analysis from humanitarian organisations.

Conflicts over land and a diminishing water supply, worsened by climate change, have killed an average of 2,000 people each year between 2011 and 2016.

The number of hungry Nigerians quadrupled during the Covid-19 outbreak, and the country’s economy is still reeling from the effects. Despite efforts by the government to implement or increase aid programmes in response, only a tiny percentage of individuals in need got aid. The lack of a strong social safety system guarantees everyone a livable wage is primarily to blame.

Religious groups have asked the American government to pressure the government of Nigeria to ensure the safety of its citizens.

The International Committee on Nigeria estimated earlier this year, using what it called “primary sources on the ground,” that the number of people killed by Fulani terrorist assaults has increased “exponentially” since 2015, reaching over 9,700.

The Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide has conducted a statistical risk assessment, finding that Nigeria has a 7.3% chance of witnessing a fresh mass slaughter by the end of 2021. This risk is the sixth highest in the world. As of early 2019, Nigeria’s risk level of 5% placed it seventeenth worldwide.

Today, genocide is a constant danger. We also beg that the increasing number of fatal nocturnal raids by gangs of highly armed radical Islamist Fulani terrorists on largely Christian agricultural areas in Nigeria get greater attention.

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