Nigeria 2nd on Genocide List as GOP Pushes for Sanctions

Purity Panmun Danat, 3, was the sole survivor of a massacre of her entire family by Islamic terrorists. Her father, her mother, her three brothers, and a sister were all killed when their village, Kambar-Pelli, was attacked on the night of Dec. 23, 2023. Masara Kim / The Epoch Times

JOS, NIGERIA—Amid Republican-led efforts in the U.S. House of Representatives to push for sanctions, Nigeria has, in recent years, had the second most deaths from genocide worldwide, as reported by the International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety), an international crime-tracking nonprofit.

Over the past 15 years, the country has witnessed more than 150,000 deaths attributed to Islamic extremists, according to Intersociety’s latest report shared with The Epoch Times.

The figure places Nigeria behind only Syria, ravaged by civil war since 2011 with more than 306,000 civilian deaths.

The “Silent Genocide,” primarily targeting Christians, includes the destruction of more than 18,500 churches, according to the report.

The past 13 months were the bloodiest, with more than 8,222 Christians killed, it states. Fulani jihadists were responsible for at least 6,700 Christian deaths, while Boko Haram and allied insurgent groups accounted for 500 deaths.

A large West African ethnic group, the Fulani, makes up some of Nigeria’s most powerful political elites. However, terrorists identifying as members have been accused of killing six times more Christians than Boko Haram, according to the Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust Foundation, a UK-based charity.

The remaining 1,000 deaths were by “Islamic-inspired” government security forces.

Despite this record, the U.S. State Department did not label Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) in its 2023 International Religious Freedom Reports.

The Biden administration thus ignored the recommendation of the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom seeking to redesignate Nigeria.

Nigeria was designated a CPC by President Donald Trump’s administration in 2020. But the Biden administration dropped the label when President Joe Biden took office in 2021, raising concerns.

“There was an immediate increase in violence toward Christians in Nigeria when President Biden removed that nation from the CPC list,” wrote Rev. William J. Murray III, chairman of the Religious Freedom Coalition.

The nonprofit in Washington lobbies Congress on issues related to aiding Christians in Islamic and Communist countries.

The Epoch Times reported in July 2022 that more Christians were killed in Nigeria after the Biden administration declared that there were no significant religious freedom violations in the country.

According to Intersociety’s records, Nigerian Christian massacres soared by more than 15 percent from a total of 4,650 deaths reported by Open Doors International the previous year.

Christians gather in the capital city of Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria, to protest the Christmas Eve 2023 massacres by Islamic terrorists that claimed hundreds of lives, on Jan. 8, 2024. Masara Kim / The Epoch Times

The attacks steadily rose throughout 2023 with more than 8,000 deaths, Intersociety Chairman Emeka Umeagbalasi told The Epoch Times. At least 200 more deaths were recorded in January 2024, making it the bloodiest 13 months in Nigeria’s history, according to Mr. Umeagbalasi.

“[Nigeria’s] presence in the CPC list did affect the conduct of the government toward human rights,” Mr. Murray wrote.

Alarmed by the rising figures, the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee on Feb. 6 approved HR 82 urging U.S. authorities to label Nigeria as one of the world’s worst violators of religious freedom.

Sponsored by Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), the resolution cites “widespread religious persecution including mass murder and kidnapping” during three years (2021–23) that the Biden administration declined to designate Nigeria on the CPC list.

“The Nigerian government has allowed widespread murder and violence by failing to act and protect victims and prosecute Islamist terrorists,” said Mr. Smith, who chairs the House Global Human Rights and International Organizations Subcommittee.

“On Christmas Eve, over 300 Christians were killed in targeted attacks, yet none of the perpetrators has been brought to justice.

“It’s unacceptable that Nigerian President [Bola] Tinubu, inaugurated in May 2023, has not even acknowledged the religious motivations behind these attacks.”

He said at a hearing attended by Nigerian religious leaders, including Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of the Diocese of Makurdi, that “Secretary of State [Antony] Blinken has also not adequately addressed these terrorist attacks—even in his recent press remarks with the Nigerian foreign minister, where he only offered condolences for the Christmas Eve massacre.”

A 3-Year-Old Sole Survivor

Terrorists carried out simultaneous attacks in more than 30 villages south of Jos starting on Dec. 23, 2023, killing hundreds of Christian residents, according to Church leaders speaking to The Epoch Times.

More than 19,000 people were displaced in the attacks concentrated in Bokkos County, according to the Rev. Stephen Baba Panya, vice president of the Christian Association of Nigeria.

Amnesty International described the weeklong massacres as “horrific.“ They included the slaughter of babies and the burning of residents in their homes, Rev. Panya told The Epoch Times.

Among the victims was 3-year-old Purity Panmun Danat, a sole survivor who witnessed her family’s slaughter. Her father, her mother, her three brothers, and a sister were all killed on the first night of the attacks, when their village, Kambar-Pelli, was attacked.

Within the same compound, her uncle was slain with his wife and three children.

Local media reported that 16 people in Kambar-Pelli, of Ruwi district in Bokkos County, were killed that night by Fulani terrorists.

Purity survived after her mother, seeing the invading army, hid her behind a curtain before being shot.

Daily attacks

Mr. Tinubu recently approved the establishment of an army barrack to restore order in the region. But attacks continued up to the night of Feb. 11, raising concerns about the government’s sincerity.

“It is concerning that attacks are still going on despite the presence of security forces in this local government,” Monday Kassah, chairman of Bokkos County, told The Epoch Times.

“No day passes by without one incident or the other.”

Mr. Kassah commended the Republican-led House for addressing the attacks.

Displaced residents outside a UNICEF IDP camp in Bokkos, Plateau State, Nigeria, following terrorist attacks. Masara Kim / The Epoch Times

There is no guarantee that the House resolution will be immediately adopted, but its consideration might be the only hope for the suffering victims, Mr. Murray wrote.

“It is obvious that placing Nigeria back on the CPC list would force the government once again to address the persecution of Christians and Shia Muslims,” he wrote.

In the UK, lawmakers applauded the U.S. House resolution.

“Hopefully there will be a political will to address the real issues and thereby to end the horrific tragedies currently afflicting so many thousands of innocent Nigerian civilians,” Baroness Caroline Cox, a member of the UK House of Lords, told The Epoch Times in an email.

“For over a decade, there have been false narratives: attributing Boko Haram attacks and killings in north-eastern Nigeria to poverty and the unfolding genocide in the middle belt region to climate change.

“Therefore, the killings have persisted because there is not a political will to identify the radical ideologies fueling the massacres and to respond appropriately.”

Sen. Diket Plang, a member of Mr. Tinubu’s All Progressives Congress (APC) Party, disagreed that the CPC label would stop attacks in Nigeria.

“I don’t know how external influence has helped us,” Mr. Plang, who represents a district in Plateau State, told The Epoch Times.

“No matter the external contributions, if we don’t agree to trust ourselves and be our brothers’ keepers, whatever they do will be cosmetic.

“Even if we bring in a force of soldiers to maintain peace, that will be temporary if we don’t remove hatred and distrust from our hearts.”

The wreckage of a church slaughter during which a pastor was burned to death in Bokkos County, Plateau State, Nigeria, on Christmas Eve 2023. Masara Kim / The Epoch Times

His colleague at the Nigerian House of Representatives James Lalu has a contrary opinion.

“In Plateau State, there are different tribes, and we know ourselves. And we are not fighting ourselves. Anybody fighting for land or anything is a visitor and a common enemy to all of us,” Mr. Lalu, a member of the APC who represents Mangu and Bokkos counties, told The Epoch Times.

“It is time for the U.S. and other Western governments to come and intervene and stop these killings.”

Rev. Panya told The Epoch Times, “It really brings hope to see the U.S. Congress taking decisive actions on this.”

‘Pure Genocide’

“I cannot deny that there are farmer/herder clashes in Nigeria,” Rev. Panya said. “But those are predominantly in the northwest region—Zamfara, Katsina especially.

“In the middle belt region, what is happening is pure genocide. It is religiously motivated—to annihilate and take over communities for Islam.

“They launch attacks with assault rifles and machine guns, with bombs and grenades, and they slaughter people in their sleep. And in all of these attacks, Christians are the targets.

“Where there are mosques, they don’t touch them. But where there are churches, they burn them to the ground. So how is this a ‘clash?’”