Rights Group, Intersociety, Outlines 21 Measures to End Alleged Anti-Christian Genocide in Nigeria

A human rights advocacy group, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), has publicly advised the Nigerian Government to adopt a 21-point measure aimed at definitively ending the raging controversy and allegations of genocidal killings targeted at Christians across the country.

The organisation released its comprehensive list on Sunday, arguing that its persistent stance on the issue was recently vindicated by the findings of Mike Arnold of the City of Blanco, Texas, USA. This comes despite the Nigerian Government’s earlier dismissal of the genocide claims as “unfounded.”

Dependable NG reports that Intersociety, through a statement signed by its principal officers including Emeka Umeagbalasi, Head of the organisation, and Obianuju Joy Igboeli, Head of Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, urged the government to “stop defending the indefensible” and initiate decisive actions to return Nigeria to a state of secularism and genuine freedom of worship, devoid of what they term ‘religicide’.

Key Measures for Secularism and Security Reform
Intersociety’s detailed 21-point plan focuses heavily on constitutional supremacy, military and policing reform, and addressing the perceived “lawless status” of certain groups. The measures outlined include:

Constitutional Supremacy: Ensuring the 1999 Constitution, especially Sections 10 (no state religion) and 38 (freedom of religion and worship), is supreme over any auxiliary laws passed by the National or State Assemblies.

End to ‘State Jihadism’: Abolishing all elements of ‘State Jihadism’ and ensuring the country operates strictly on the principles of secularism.

Security Forces De-radicalisation: Ending “crude, brutish, clannish, illiterate, hate, discriminatory and ethno-religious soldiering and policing”. They specifically called for the end of “Igbo-phobia”, ethnic profiling, and the immediate accounting for the estimated 5,000 Easterners, predominantly Igbo-Southeasterners, allegedly secretly detained or disappeared by security forces since August 2015.

Military Leadership Rebalancing: Stopping the alleged practice of flooding the Eastern and South-Eastern regions with senior Northern Muslim officers as heads of key security and policing formations. The group cited Imo State, with over a 95% Christian population, where all four key security and policing establishments are allegedly headed by senior Northern Muslim officers.

Security for Displaced Communities: Ensuring the security forces are de-radicalised and re-integrated into Nigerian secularism. This includes disarming the jihadist elements among the Fulani population and protecting indigenous farming communities displaced from their ancestral lands.

Restoration of Christian Hostages: The Nigerian Government and its security forces must inexcusably account for the whereabouts of more than 850 Christian hostages allegedly still held inside the Rijana Forest in Kachia County of Kaduna State.

Political Power Sharing: Abolishing the Muslim-Muslim Presidency at the national level and restoring proportional power-sharing arrangements between Muslims and Christians in multi-religious states like Kaduna, Adamawa, Gombe, Kogi, and Nasarawa.

National Census and Repatriation: Conducting a credible national census, the first since 2006, to identify and repatriate illegal aliens, including gun-wielding jihadists.

Proscribing Jihad Enablers: Putting national leaders of groups like MACBAN and FUNAM on a red notice and giving them matching orders to disarm jihadist elements within their foot-soldiers or face proscription.

The organisation concluded by demanding an end to the “jihad-enabler national policy of Fulani Cattle Ranching” and advocating for the transformation of Niger State into Africa’s largest modern cattle ranching state, while flushing out the Jihadists currently occupying vast areas of the state.