By Erasmus Ikhide
For almost two decades, the right to religious freedom has rapidly deteriorated in the West African country. Since the rise of Islamic terrorist groups in 2009, Nigeria’s Christian community has faced extremist violence at an alarming rate. From then until today, more than 80,000 Christians have been slaughtered by violent insurgency groups — and the silence from northern political and religious elites on this genocide is not only appalling but has further emboldened these Islamic terrorists to unleash more mayhem on other religious faiths. On March 12, 2025, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, held a congressional hearing on the ongoing religious freedom violations in Nigeria, following an earlier report that Nigeria topped the chart of the most dangerous for Christians, where two of the Christian faith adherents are killed in an hour. One of the distinguished witnesses —Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of the diocese of Makurdi, Nigeria — testified: “Militant Fulani herdsmen are terrorists destroying society. They steal and vandalize, they kill and boast about it, they kidnap and rape, and they enjoy total impunity from the elected authorities. None of them have been arrested and brought to justice.”
Except I missed it by a stretch of tardiness, I’m yet to read any press statements from the 19 Northern Governors or their accomplice – the Northern Elders Forum, condemning the mass slaughtering of over 52 persons in Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State by their own Fulani terrorist’s Islamic ethnic brothers.
This tragic event has once again brought to the forefront the question about the necessity of the horrible contraption called Nigeria where unwashed dogs who are tendentiously damaged by their religious ideology are made to coexist with cultured and decent human beings.
Last month, these ethic chauvinists and religious bigots promptly and stoutly rose in condemnation of the killings of Uromi 16, from threating reprisal attacks to justice to demands for compensation for the families of the victims.
Sadly, up till this moment, no official statement has been sent out by these pretentious blood-embracing northern political and religious elites who deliberately set up their own illiterate, debased and dehumanized devilish population for bloodletting.
It couldn’t have been happenstance that they soundly condemned the killings of suspected 16 hunters found with guns in Uromi and maintained dignified silence on similar incidents in other regions.
This selective outrage is a direct pointer to the accusations of hypocrisy, with many questioning the motivations behind their statements on the Uromi incident while they remained evasive in a worse-case scenario.
For almost two decades, the right to religious freedom has rapidly deteriorated in the West African country. Since the rise of Islamic terrorist groups in 2009, Nigeria’s Christian community has faced extremist violence at an alarming rate.
From then until today, more than 80,000 Christians have been slaughtered by violent insurgency groups — and the silence from northern political and religious elites on this genocide is not only appalling but has further emboldened these Islamic terrorists to unleash more mayhem on other religious faiths.
On March 12, 2025, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, held a congressional hearing on the ongoing religious freedom violations in Nigeria, following an earlier report that Nigeria topped the chart of the most dangerous for Christians, where two of the Christian faith adherents are killed in an hour.
One of the distinguished witnesses —Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of the diocese of Makurdi, Nigeria — testified: “Militant Fulani herdsmen are terrorists destroying society. They steal and vandalize, they kill and boast about it, they kidnap and rape, and they enjoy total impunity from the elected authorities. None of them have been arrested and brought to justice.”
Expert witnesses joined in Smith’s appeal to Secretary Marco Rubio to redesignate Africa’s most populous nation as a “Country of Particular Concern,” a designation President Trump used in his first term to help persecuted Christians in Nigeria.
What is it with a president whose over 190 citizens are grounded to the dust in a single, but coordinated attack, more than 10,000 individuals have been internally displaced and over 302 people have been injured while he is tucked away in France?
The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999) emphasizes the security and welfare of the people as the primary purpose of government, as stated in Section 14(2)(b), and guarantees the right to life in Section 33. This section declares that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.”
Section 33 guarantees the right to life, stating that “every person has a right to life, and no one shall be deprived intentionally of his life, save in execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offense of which he has been found guilty in Nigeria.”
The constitution also includes provisions for other fundamental human rights, such as the right to personal liberty (Section 35), the right to a fair hearing (Section 36), and the right to freedom of expression and the press (Section 39), which are important for the overall security and well-being of citizens.
The well-coordinated massacre in Bokkos, where women and children were roasted alive, has further exposed the northern political and religious elites’ conspiracy in the Boko Haram insurgence and Islamic Fulani terrorists’ conquest agenda.
The latest attacks reinforced the persistent calls for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to quietly ease himself out for the obvious incapacitation honorably and patriotically before the nation collapses on his head.
Erasmus Ikhide contributed this piece via: ikhideluckyerasmus@gmail.com
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