The National President of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Baba Othman Ngelzarma, has revealed that Muslim casualties in Zamfara, Katsina, and Sokoto States are twice the number of Christians killed in the Middle Belt zone.
This challenged the claims that Christians were being specifically targeted in the country’s ongoing wave of violence.
Speaking on Channels Television on Friday, Ngelzarma described the insecurity crisis in the country as a complex, multi-layered conflict rooted in ethnicity, religion, and farmers-herders clashes.
He noted that these have escalated into widespread banditry, kidnapping, and killings.
Ngelzarma cautioned against framing the insecurity situation as a Christian genocide. “There are reports and allegations of violence and persecution of Christians in Nigeria, but in my own view, I don’t see it as a Christian genocide because the crisis differs from place to place, depending on where it is taking place”.
He recalled the 2017 crisis in Sardauna local government area of In Taraba State, a predominantly Christian region, where “over 700 pastoralists were killed in two days.” Who was responsible for it? There was a farmer-herder crisis, and the entire tribe went after the pastoralists, who are mainly Fulanis.”
Regarding Benue, he traced the escalation of violence to 2014, during the enforcement of the anti-open grazing law under former Governor Samuel Ortom.
He noted that due to the population of Benue State’s Christian population he put at 95%, they will be the predominantly affected during clashes like prevailing insecurity. “There are killings on the Christian side more than the Muslim side in Benue,” he said.
He added that poor implementation of the grazing law worsened tensions in the State.
On Plateau, he described the violence as primarily a settler–indigene conflict rather than a religious one. “In Plateau, it has a long history of religious conflict, but after that, the fight went into the forest, and the indigenes of Plateau started killing pastoralists.
“It is not a Christian–Muslim issue. It is this current governor that has made Mangu in Plateau a place of killing. It was not like that in all administrations,” Ngelzarma alleged.
He also challenged the perception of Boko Haram’s insurgency as targeting Christians. “Boko Haram, which took place in Borno over the years, killed many Muslims. 90% were all Muslims, but what has been highlighted are the Chibok girls because Chibok is a Christian community. The majority of the girls who were taken in Dapchi are Muslims,” he said.
Drawing attention to Nigeria’s North-West, Ngelzarma said that the scale of casualties among Muslims in Zamfara and Katsina far exceeds deaths in the Middle Belt.
“The casualties recorded there are more than those in the Middle Belt, it is twice the number, and it is Muslims versus Muslims,” he said, emphasising that the violence is not confined to one religious group.
Ngelzarma called for a more nuanced view of the crisis. “The situation with Nigeria is complex, and it is essential to consider the multiple perspectives when evaluating the crisis in the country. If you call it anything, then call it genocide against humanity,” he said.
