General News

Christmas Attacks: Rights Groups Demand Urgent Protection for Displaced Communities

A coalition of civil society organisations and human rights advocates has called on the Nigerian government to urgently strengthen security and protect displaced persons as the Christmas season approaches. In a joint statement released on Thursday, the groups warned that recurring Christmas-time attacks in Northern Nigeria and the Middle Belt have led to mass killings, kidnappings, and prolonged displacement of communities.

The coalition cited a pattern of violence dating back to the 2010 Jos Christmas bombings, with more recent atrocities in Plateau, Benue, Kaduna, and Kogi states. According to the statement, hundreds have been killed in Christmas-related attacks over the years, while tens of thousands have been displaced, many living in protracted humanitarian conditions.

The groups urged the government to enhance protection for churches and communities, prioritize the welfare of internally displaced persons, mobilize emergency agencies, and take decisive steps to prevent further attacks. They also called for the domestication of the African Union Kampala Convention to ensure a coordinated, rights-based response to internal displacement in Nigeria.

Below is the statement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: A CALL FOR PROTECTION AND SAFETY OF DISPLACED PERSONS & COMMUNITIES AT THIS CHRISTMAS AND BEYOND.**

Abuja/Jos/Kaduna, 19 December, 2025: Since the 2010 Christmas day twin bombing at Ungwan Rukuba and Gada Biyu in Jos, Plateau State and the terror attack at St. Theresa Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger state on 25 December, 2011, there has been a grief- mapped mass displacement of persons and communities due to terror attacks at Christmas in Northern Nigeria and more incessantly,

in the Middle Belt region.

On 24 December, 2016, Goska community in Jema’a Local Government, Southern Kaduna, was attacked. About 20 people were killed and hundreds of people in the community had to flee for safety.

In recent times, more specifically, at the 2023 Christmas, over 212 people were killed across communities in Bokkos and Barikin Ladi of Plateau State, causing over 10,000 persons to be displaced.

At the 2024 Christmas celebrations, about 46 worshippers were killed at Anwase, Gboko of Benue State, causing 6,800 persons to join the over 150,000 displaced persons.

In the days leading up to the 2025 Christmas, 20 worshippers have been kidnapped in an ECWA Church in Ayetorokiri, Bunu-Kabba, Kogi state.

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.

Consequently, the undersigned call on the Nigerian government to:

1. Put in place security measures to protect communities, churches and worshippers as citizens travel for the Christmas festivities across the country.

2. Urgently prioritize the welfare and protection of displaced Persons (IDPs) and Internally Displaced Communities (IDCs) in the Middle-Belt and across all parts of Nigeria at this Christmas and beyond.

3. Acknowledge the severe and complex challenges displaced persons face including loss of homes and livelihoods; documentation and identity; as well as the indiscriminate consequences of vulnerability to violence.

4. Strive to timely reduce the number of displaced persons and communities in protracted situations through creative and stabilizing economic empowerment solutions.

5. Ensure that the National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA) and State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMA) are immediately mobilized to provide, food, water, shelter and physical security during this season to IDPs & IDCs across the Middle-Belt & other parts of the country.

6. Enable the safe and dignified return and resettlement of displaced persons and communities to their places of habitual residence in assurance of support to be self-reliant.

7. See to the voluntary return, local integration or resettlement of IDPs and IDCs by providing support for reintegration into communities and ensuring their participation in decisions and processes that affect their lives for durable solutions.

8. Ensure that statutory security and law enforcement agencies work in collaboration with locally established security and vigilante groups towards harnessing actionable intelligence and strengthening community policing.

9. Prevent the upsurge of displaced persons and communities by acting on security reports to prevent further attacks.

10. Urge President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to grant assent to the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention) (Domestication Bill), to ensure a coordinated and harmonized rights-based approach to a national crisis of IDPs & IDCs.

We hope that the government will urgently prioritize 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.

Signed:

House of Justice

Prof. Chidi Anselm Odinkalu

Gloria Mabeiam Ballason Esq

Global Rights

Abiodun Baiyewu Esq

Atrocities Watch Africa

Open Bar Initiative

The Kukah Centre

The Gideon and Funmi Para- Mallam Peace Foundation

Middle Belt Times

Resilient Aid and Dialogue Initiative (RADi)