Accusations of targeted killings and religious persecution are intensifying, as the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Inter-Society) reports what it describes as a violent, systematic campaign against Christians and ethnic minorities in Nigeria.
In a statement issued on Easter Monday from Owerri, Inter-Society leaders Emeka Umeagbalasi and Chinwe Umeche alleged that since mid-2015, at least 20,300 unarmed residents in the South East have been killed by suspected jihadist Fulani herdsmen and allegedly complicit federal security forces.
The group also claimed that across the Middle Belt—particularly in Benue, Plateau, and Southern Kaduna—over 19,000 churches and 3,000 Christian schools and religious institutions have been destroyed or burned beyond recognition.
According to their report, the crisis has escalated dramatically since 2015, following the alleged empowerment of radical elements within the Fulani Muslim population and their Hausa allies. Since the Boko Haram insurgency began in 2009, an estimated 40 million indigenous Northern Christians have reportedly been displaced.
Inter-Society alleged that many of these Christians were forced to flee their ancestral homes to escape abduction, murder, rape, or forced conversion to radical Islam. Entire communities, they said, have been overtaken, renamed, and transformed into armed settlements.
Between January and April 2025 alone, the group reported that 1,500 to 2,000 Christians were killed in the Middle Belt, 800 to 1,000 abducted, and over 1,000 homes destroyed.
In the South East, the death toll is said to have surpassed 20,300 since 2015. Inter-Society condemned the “gross inaction” of federal security agencies, accusing them of biased law enforcement and ineffective, deceptive responses to the ongoing crisis.
