Amnesty International has called for an immediate, independent investigation into a viral video showing children and teenagers chanting slogans threatening attacks on Christians.
The rights organisation, in a statement, said the footage showed minors participating in marching drills led by adult coordinators wearing uniforms associated with Jama’atu Izalatu Bidi’a wa’iqamatus-Sunnah (JIBWIS).
According to Amnesty International, the participants chanted slogans referencing taking up “AK-47 to attack Christians on a Sunday in Enugu and Jos.”
The organisation described the chants as a “vicious display of children being manipulated and indoctrinated with violence and hatred,” urging Nigerian authorities to establish the source, location and contents of the footage.
It also called for a review of the moral songs and curricula used during the youth activities, alongside measures to protect the children from radicalisation.
Amnesty International urged the authorities to provide the minors involved with appropriate psychological and educational support and hold accountable any individuals or religious groups found using children to promote intolerance and infringing religious freedom.
The organisation stressed that protecting children from hateful rhetoric, militarised drills and extreme indoctrination was an obligation of the state under national and international law.
Citing the Child Rights Act and international human rights frameworks, including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Amnesty International said children had an absolute right to protection from exposure to violence, hate speech, and recruitment or training in paramilitary activities.
It warned that using organised youth programmes or religious training groups to instil hostile ideologies threatened the safety, moral development and future of young Nigerians.