Nigeria: submission to the 45th session of the Universal Periodic Review

Introduction

1. CSW-UK is a human rights organisation specialising in the right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB). CSW Nigeria advocates for and assists victims of religion related violence in Nigeria.

2. This submission seeks to highlight concerns regarding the situation of FoRB and related rights and freedoms. Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB)

3. During the reporting period Christian communities in Shari’a states continued to experience marginalization, discrimination, and socioeconomic deprivations that derogate from constitutional provisions, including denial of worship places in federal educational institutions and seizures and demolitions of properties on spurious grounds.

4. For example, in October 2021 the Kaduna State government demolished without compensation 263 buildings in the predominantly Christian Gracelands community in Zaria, including six churches, a small mosque and a school complex, despite a court ruling against demolition in at least one instance. In June 2022 a chapel under construction at Kaduna State University, approved in 2014 by the University’s Governing Council, was demolished.

5. Immediately prior to leaving office, former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai ordered the demolition of over 900 buildings. 21 May 2023 saw the demolition of properties belonging to the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), a minority Shi’a faith group in the Rigasa area. Next, the Gbagyi Villa residential complex in the predominantly Christian southern part of Kaduna City was targeted, beginning with the demolition of the Alheri Baptist Church on 22 May.

6. At least eight people were killed, and several others wounded, including a 12-year-old girl, when the Kaduna State Vigilante Service (KADSVIS), a group created by El-Rufai, opened fire on protesting residents as demolitions continued in defiance of a court order. One victim, Luka Enoch, suffered 11 gunshot wounds, and a woman reportedly died of shock as demolitions began.

To read the submission in full, you can download the pdf here.