In a British Parliament ‘House of Lord’s debate reacting to The Queen’s Speech, members of the House were updated on the on-going atrocities in several communities across Nigeria. Her Ladyship, The Baroness Cox, who is a tireless campaigner against the atrocities led the effort of updating the house about the tragic situation in Nigeria. She recounted, amongst other things, how many thousands of civilians were killed in attacks led by Islamist Boko Haram and Fulani militias in northern and central-belt states. In her words, “the underlying drivers of conflict are complex, yet targeted violence and the perpetration of atrocities against predominantly Christian communities suggest that religion and ideology play a key part, as emphasised in the Bishop of Truro’s excellent report,” Citing “reliable sources”, she said that “more than 5,000 Christians have been killed since 2015, with 1,000 murdered in 2019”. She stressed that the Global Terrorism Index in 2016 and 2017 named Fulani militia as the fourth deadliest terrorist group in the world, with only Boko Haram, ISIS and al-Shabaab being accounted deadlier. “During many of the attacks,” she said, “the Fulani are reported by survivors to have shouted “Allahu Akbar”, “Destroy the infidels” and “Wipe out the infidels”.” In her response, the government’s minister of State in the Ministry of Defence, Baroness Goldie stated that the British government stands ready to implement the recommendations of the Truro Report in full as part of the Prime Minister’s Christmas Day commitment to stand with persecuted Christians around the world. Find below deliberations at the UK House of Lords and Baroness Cox’s speech on Nigeria:
QUEEN’S SPEECH DEBATE 7 JANUARY 2020 My Lords, Her Majesty’s gracious Speech affirmed the UK’s commitment to “work closely with international partners to help solve the most complex international security issues and promote peace and security globally.”