The ongoing killings of Christians in Nigeria is “religiously motivated” and “almost entirely fuelled by Islamist extremism” according to a new study from a British parliamentary group.

In the report, ‘Nigeria: Unfolding Genocide? Three Years On’, by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom of Religion or Belief, religious extremism is cited by over half of respondents as the biggest driver of violence that has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than two million people.

“For years now, academics, politicians and major western NGOs in the west have downplayed the role of Islamist extremism in this slaughter,” said Henrietta Blyth of Open Doors UK and Ireland, one of the groups that contributed to the report.

“Instead, they have focused on ethnicity or climate change, both factors. But when I speak to women or men whose families have been butchered or villages burned down, they are clear. They know who is persecuting them and why. Why are we erasing their voices?”

She added, “This is a perilous situation, not just for Christians, but for the whole nation. This is, to quote the report, ‘a land grab facilitated by ethnic cleansing’, and it’s religiously motivated.”