REPORT: 620 Nigerian Christians Killed So Far This Year by Muslim Militants Boko Haram, Fulani Herdsmen

A report released late last week by a Nigerian organization estimates around 620 Christians were killed in the African country by Islamic militants during the first five months of 2020 alone. 

The International Society for Civil Liberties & Rule of Law (ISCLRL), an organization not aligned with the Nigerian government, released the report which also warned militant Fulani herdsmen and the Boko Haram has intensified their anti-Christian violence in the old Middle Belt and Northeast regions of the country with the burning or destroying of their centers of worship and learning. In addition, hundreds of homes have been destroyed. 

The ISCLRL headed by Christian Emeka Umeagbalasi noted in its report no fewer than 620 defenseless Christians have been killed since the year began with no reprisal action taken by the government or the Nigerian military forces against the Fulani or the Boko Haram. 

"The atrocities against Christians have gone unchecked and risen to alarming apogee with the country's security forces and concerned political actors looking the other way or colluding with the Jihadists," the report said. 

The organization also estimated that more than 32,000 Christians have been killed by Islamic militants since 2009. 

As CBN News has reported, the Fulani herdsmen, also known as the Fulani militia, are a semi-nomadic group herding cattle over vast areas, living in the central regions of Nigeria. The majority of the herdsmen are Muslim and have fought with Christian farmers over grazing land for centuries. 

The Fulani were early adopters of Islam, participating in holy wars, or jihads, in the 16th Century that established them as a dominant social and economic force in Western Africa, according to WorldWatch Monitor.

About five years ago, the terrorist group Boko Haram was pushed out of several provinces in northeastern Nigeria by the country's military. However, the group maintains control cover some villages and certain areas of territory. They continue to launch attacks against Christian villages, murdering the inhabitants and kidnapping women and children. 

As CBN News reported, the terrorist group is still holding Christian teen Leah Sharibu who has been in Boko Haram captivity for two years. She was abducted along with 109 of her female Dapchi schoolmates by Boko Haram terrorists in February of 2018. In the days that followed, five of the girls died while in captivity, and 104 were released on March 20, 2018.

Boko Haram would not let Sharibu go unless she renounced her Christian faith and converted to Islam. She refused and was declared a "slave for life" by her captors.

Earlier this year, Christian Solidarity International (CSI) issued a genocide warning for Nigeria, calling on the United Nations Security Council to take action. CSI issued the call in response to "a rising tide of violence directed against Nigerian Christians and others classified as 'infidels' by Islamist militants in the country's north and middle belt regions."

Meanwhile, the mainstream media in the US remains largely silent as Muslim terrorists' merciless killing of Nigerian Christians continues. 

Attacks on Nigerian Christians have steadily risen over the past few years. The Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART), headed up by a member of the British House of Lords, Baroness Cox, estimates that 6,000 Christians in Nigeria have been murdered since 2015.

Nigeria is ranked 12th on Open Doors' 2020 World Watch List of countries where Christians suffer the most persecution.