The coalition warned that failure to act decisively could lead to fresh mass killings and displacement during the 2025 festivities.
A coalition of human rights organisations, faith-based groups and civil society actors has expressed concerns over what it described as a recurring pattern of Christmas-season attacks in Northern Nigeria and the Middle Belt.
The coalition warned that failure to act decisively could lead to fresh mass killings and displacement during the 2025 festivities.
In a joint statement issued on Thursday and made available to SaharaReporters, the groups traced a grim history of Christmas-related atrocities beginning with the 2010 twin bombings at Ungwan Rukuba and Gada Biyu in Jos, Plateau State, and the 2011 attack on St. Theresa’s Catholic Church in Madalla, Niger State, incidents that triggered large-scale displacement and long-term insecurity.
The statement recalled that on Christmas Eve 2016, Goska community in Jema’a Local Government Area of Southern Kaduna was attacked, leaving about 20 people dead and forcing hundreds of residents to flee their homes.
According to the signatories, the violence has intensified in recent years.
During the 2023 Christmas period, coordinated attacks across Bokkos and Barkin Ladi local government areas of Plateau State reportedly left more than 212 people dead and displaced over 10,000 others.
Similarly, during the 2024 Christmas celebrations, about 46 worshippers were killed in Anwase, Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State, pushing an additional 6,800 people into displacement camps and swelling the number of internally displaced persons in the state to over 150,000.
The groups also warned of emerging threats ahead of Christmas 2025, citing the recent kidnapping of 20 worshippers from an ECWA church in Ayetorokiri, Bunu-Kabba, Kogi State, as evidence that faith-based attacks remain a clear and present danger.
“This pattern of Christmas season mass atrocities across different parts of the Middle Belt of Nigeria needs to be addressed and prevented to drive a wedge between the intersection of faith-based insecurity and the violence of domestic terrorism across the country,” the statement said.
The coalition called on the Nigerian government to immediately deploy adequate security to protect communities, churches and travellers during the festive period, while prioritising the welfare and protection of internally displaced persons and communities across the Middle Belt and other affected regions.
It urged authorities to acknowledge the complex challenges facing displaced persons, including loss of homes and livelihoods, lack of documentation and heightened vulnerability to further violence, and to adopt sustainable economic empowerment strategies to reduce protracted displacement.
The groups further demanded the urgent mobilisation of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMA) to provide food, water, shelter and physical security for displaced persons during the Christmas season.
They also called for the safe, voluntary and dignified return or resettlement of displaced communities, stressing the need for their participation in decisions affecting their lives, as well as stronger collaboration between statutory security agencies and local vigilante groups to improve intelligence gathering and community policing.
In a direct appeal to President Bola Tinubu, the coalition urged him to grant assent to the domestication of the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa, known as the Kampala Convention, describing it as critical to a coordinated, rights-based response to Nigeria’s displacement crisis.
“We hope that the government will urgently prioritise action in addressing the protection needs of IDPs & IDCs, prevent further incidents that could increase their numbers and address the displacement problem in an enduring and sustainable manner,” they added.
The statement was signed by House of Justice; Global Rights; Atrocities Watch Africa; The Kukah Centre; Open Bar Initiative; Middle Belt Times; and several other organisations and individuals, including Prof. Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, Gloria Mabeiam Ballason, Abiodun Baiyewu and Rt. Hon. Cephas Dyako.
Nigeria has one of the largest populations of internally displaced persons in Africa, largely driven by insurgency, banditry and communal violence, with rights groups repeatedly warning that seasonal spikes in attacks — particularly around religious holidays — reflect deep failures in security planning and protection of civilians.