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From Okwe Obi, Abuja Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang has raised concerns over the growing wave of religiously motivated violence in Nigeria. The governor revealed that more than 6,000 people were killed in 2023 alone in conflicts largely driven by religious and ethnic divisions, especially in the Middle Belt region. Citing data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), Mutfwang said the alarming figure showed that there is an urgent need for a coordinated national response to prevent religious crises before they escalate into violence. The governor spoke in Abuja on Thursday at the National Christian Leaders FORB Conference themed “Defending Religious Freedom as a Gospel Imperative”. The governor called for the establishment of a national multi-agency Early Warning and Early Response (EWER) system to detect and de-escalate inter-religious tensions across the country. Represented by the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Philemon Daffi, Mutfwang noted that despite constitutional guarantees under Sections 10 and 38 for freedom of religion, thought, and conscience, Nigeria continues to grapple with recurring, premeditated religious violence, discrimination, and systemic failures. He said: “The scale of this violence is documented by organisations like the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), which recorded over 6,000 fatalities in 2023 alone from conflicts often framed in religious garment and ethnic terms, particularly in the Middle Belt. “Furthermore, reports from the International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law indicate that incidents often involve the destruction of hundreds of places of worship, displacing faith communities and creating cycles of reprisal. “Beyond violence, structural discrimination persists, such as the contentious issue of government funding for pilgrimages (Christian and Muslim) and the de facto reservation of certain public offices along religious lines in some states, appropriation humongous money of government to fund education e.g. the Board of Islamic Studies in Kaduna which undermines the constitutional principle of neutrality. “These challenges are compounded by a climate of impunity, where, as noted by Amnesty International, investigations into mass killings are often slow, ineffective, or non-existent, eroding public trust in the state’s capacity to provide justice.” The governor said that dedicated units within the Ministries of Justice of both States and Federal should be established to monitor and prosecute religious-violation cases. He proposed amendments to criminal law to address legislative gaps while safeguarding constitutional freedoms. He said that interfaith dialogue, civic education, and public campaigns against intolerance as well as independent panels to investigate and reform systemic failures in handling religious violence should be supported. “Together, these initiatives form an integrated strategy where early intervention and robust legal accountability reinforce each other to secure the conditions for peaceful religious practice,” he said. Addressing newsmen on the sideline of the conference, the President of Leadership Empowerment and Advocacy for Humanitarian (LEAH) Foundation Dr Gloria Pulda said that conference was to bring Christian religious leaders together in one voice against religious violence. She said that similar conferences were also on the way for Muslims and traditional leaders across the country to sensitise the people on freedom of religion with a human right. Pulda, who is also a lecturer in the Department of Political Science in the University of Jos, decried the continuous adoption of Leah Sharibu, seven years after the release of the Dapchi girls because of her faith. “The fact that she still remains seven years in captivity, it is painful and will continue to demand for her release, because she represents all of us who are being held and persecuted because of our faith. “She was been captured and refused freedom for this past seven years, she is still in the hands of her captors ISIS, just because she refused to denounce her Christian faith, she stood strongly and boldly and said, I will not deny Jesus. That’s the only reason why she’s in captivity. All the others were released. “So we are demanding for her release, and we are asking the Federal Government and the international community that Leah Sharibu is still in captivity. “She represents every woman and every child who is in captivity, so they need to be released and that is the focus why we are advocating for religious freedom all over,” she said.
