New Global Report Corroborates Systemic Impunity as Root Cause of Displacement
By Mary Kiara
(Benue) – Nigerian Bishop Wilfred Anagbe says the government has the capacity to protect Christian communities but lacks the political will, as a new international report documents worsening persecution across Africa.
For the Catholic Bishop of Makurdi, whose diocese has absorbed thousands fleeing coordinated raids in central Nigeria’s Benue State, the ongoing eradication of farming communities is not an unavoidable tragedy, but the result of institutional indifference.
“Nigeria is capable of handling this issue of insurgency, but they are not willing to do so. The government doesn’t lack the capacity; they lack the willingness,” Bishop Anagbe told TruthNigeria.
“This is an issue vigilantes [volunteer community guards]can handle, but the government lacks the political will,” he said.
That local assessment of administrative paralysis finds sharp corroboration in the Persecuted and Forgotten? 2024–2026 report released by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), which identifies sub-Saharan Africa as the primary global epicenter of extremist violence against Christians and notes that conditions deteriorated across 55 percent of nations examined, with Nigeria a prominent example.
Intelligence Failures and Security Gaps
Security specialists argue that the collapse of state protection stems directly from a failure to act on actionable intelligence before attacks materialize.
“If Nigeria is able to infiltrate and gather the right intelligence and cooperate with partners within the sub-region and take advantage of the protocols that we even have in place within the sub-regional structures, it would help to a very large extent in halting terrorism,” Adib Saani, a global security expert, told TruthNigeria.
The ACN assessment provides sweeping statistical backing for these concerns, noting that attacks on predominantly Christian settlements in the Middle Belt have driven Nigeria’s internally displaced population past 3.5 million.
Independent tracking data underscores the staggering human cost, with Open Doors International recording that Nigeria accounted for over 70 percent of all faith-based Christian martyrdoms worldwide during the reporting window.
For survivors, captivity carries an explicit ideological objective of forced religious conversion.
Solomon Ako, a 33-year-old Christian abducted by militants near Zaria, recounted the brutal torture he endured after refusing to renounce his faith.
He and other hostages were held in cold water up to their necks and threatened with death if they refused to renounce their faith.
“They immediately asked us to convert, and when we refused, they began beating us. They whipped us, tied our legs and arms, and put chains around our ankles,” Ako told ACN.
“Every night when our kidnappers were asleep, we prayed. We prayed knowing that we were not alone.”
Another survivor, Nyibiam Veronica, a displaced mother of eight from Tse Adekule village in Gwer West, Benue state, told TruthNigeria that the overcrowded conditions have made the spread of diseases almost inevitable.
“When the Fulani terrorists came, shooting sporadically and stealing properties, my family and I ran, and we were lucky to survive. By the next morning, we decided to leave our village,” she told TruthNigeria.
“We want to go back to our communities,because that is the best solution. But if the government cannot make that happen now, they should at least make life easier for us here. We will be happy.”
A Continental Pattern of Terror
The religious persecution documented in Nigeria forms part of an aggressive, cross-border strategy across sub-Saharan Africa.
In northern Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province, Islamic State-affiliated insurgents have slaughtered more than 1,000 Christians since 2017, burning churches and displacing tens of thousands.
Meanwhile, in Burkina Faso and Mali, Al-Qaeda-linked groups control more than 40 percent of rural territory, imposing strict Islamic laws, banning public Christian worship, and executing those who resist.
“I have often interviewed Christians who have experienced violence, discrimination and persecution. One of their first requests, particularly to us as brothers and sisters in the faith, has been not to forget them,” Marta Petrosillo, ACN report director said.
Governance Deficits and the Economics of Conflict
While international findings catalog the human toll, security strategists point out that the machinery driving the insurgency is baked into bad-governance systems.
“Attacks will continue to happen because these terror groups have built infrastructure over time and still have armed men who will occasionally come out to cause mayhem. When they carry out these attacks, they want to make as much publicity about it as possible to show they are still around,” Dr. David Okoro, a security strategist, told TruthNigeria.
Dr. Okoro emphasized that military operations alone cannot resolve an insurgency rooted in institutional decay.
“Eighty percent of the problem is around governance. If we take care of governance, the military option will become negligible because the recruitment pipeline will be cut off, and people will no longer be willing to join these gangs. The military can then easily finish off the rest. But as long as the fuel for insurgency continues due to poor governance, we will be here for a long time,” he said.
Rebuilding Early Warning Accountability
Bishop Anagbe pointed to the June 2025 attack on Yelewata, a farming community in Guma County, Benue State, where community and church counts put the death toll above 200. (TruthNigeria counted 271 fatalities.)
“Local vigilantes warned of the attack a month earlier, and again 24 hours before, but no help came,” he said.
A recent analysis by Nextier experts Bernard Basason and Jamilu Musa highlights the precise structural reforms needed to halt recurring massacres.
“Every credible alert should have a traceable record identifying who received it, who verified it, who authorized the response and how quickly action followed.”
“Ultimately, a warning system is only as effective as the response capacity behind it,” they wrote.
Mary Kiara reports on Terrorism and Religious Freedom Policy for TruthNigeria.
