Following the execution of five aid workers by Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP), Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto told Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) he believed the recent violence was genocidal in nature.

When asked whether he agreed that that Fulani killings of Christians can be categorised as genocide according to international law, he said: “I believe so”.

He added that Muslims were also victims of the violence: “These killings are not to be narrowed down to Christians because they have been far worse in the predominantly Muslim north in such states as Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara.”

ISWAP recently released a video of the five aid workers being executed, three of whom were reportedly Christian, as a warning to “all those being used by infidels to convert Muslims to Christianity.”

Nigeria human rights organisation Intersociety found that since June 2015, up to 12,000 Christians have been killed with 350 deaths in the first two months of 2020.

Bishop Kukah said “there is no dispute at all” that Nigeria is a largely failed state.

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Photo credit: ACN UK