Report states an average of 30 Christians murdered each day in Nigeria in 2025

A new report by the Catholic-inspired International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law, Intersociety, asserts that at least 7,087 Christians were massacred across Nigeria in the first 220 days of 2025—a daily average of 32 Christians killed per day.

The report published on August 10th also states that 7,899 others were abducted for being Christian. According to Emeka Umeagbalasi, the head of Intersociety, the killings and abductions are driven by some 22 jihadist groups that have made the West African nation their home.

The report claims these groups aim to eliminate an estimated 112 million Christians and 13 million adherents of traditional religions, particularly targeting the South-East and South-South regions.

It also says the overriding intention is to wipe out Christianity from Nigeria within the next 50 years. That would be reminiscent of the 19th-century jihad led by Fulani herdsmen that established the Sokoto Caliphate, a powerful Islamic state that controlled much of what is now northern Nigeria. Today, the Sultan of Sokoto remains Nigeria’s highest-ranking Islamic authority.

According to Intersociety’s data, since 2009, approximately 185,009 Nigerians have been killed, including 125,009 Christians and 60,000 “liberal Muslims”.

The report states that 19,100 churches have been destroyed, over 1,100 Christian communities displaced, and 20,000 square miles of land seized. Additionally, more than 600 Christian clerics have been abducted, including 250 Catholic priests and 350 pastors, with dozens killed.

While attacks against Christians have been documented across the country, Benue State was the worst hit, accounting for no fewer than 1,100 Christian killings, including the Yelewata massacre of June 13-14 2025, that led to death of 280 Christians, and the Sankera massacre of April 2025, during which more than 72 defenseless Christians were hacked to death.

“These Islamic terror groups are using violence and genocidal means to obliterate Nigeria’s indigenous ethnic groups and their identities, especially the 3,475-year-old Igbo cultural heritage established since 1450 BC,” the report states.

Claiming that the Islamic terror groups operate with the protection of the state, the report draws historical parallels to highlight the argument that the groups want to turn Nigeria into “a country where Christianity is banned and brutally crushed, relegated and forced underground”; a replica of Sudan where Government-backed Jihadist Janjaweed were deployed over the years to wipe out almost all Christian communities and villages including destruction of 65 churches across the country in 2023 alone.”

Other countries where it could be a crime to be a Christian are Libya, Algeria, North Korea, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Somalia and Afghanistan “where it is high crime to be seen with holy bible or wearing Christian symbols or saying Christian prayers or singing praises and worship songs.”

The targeted killing of Christians in Nigeria has become an issue of serious concern for the Church. In comments to CWR, Ignatius Kaigama, the Archbishop of Abuja, said : “Increased insecurity has continued to haunt our nation. The Boko Haram insurgents, herdsmen militia, bandits, and the so-called unknown gunmen have continued to unleash terror in different parts of the country.”

Fr. Moses Aondover, Vicar General Pastoral, Director of Communications and priest at Holy Ghost parish in Makurdi, described the killers of Christians as “animals and barbaric.”

“Every single attack changes the demographics of Christians,” he told CWR. He said those killed are “human lives wasted. They are not figures counted!”

“These are wasted human lives, not mere statistics!” he noted.

The crisis is compounded by accusations that the Nigerian military is complicit in the killings of Christians. Franc Utoo, a Yelewata native and former aide to Governor Samuel Ortom (now in the US), points to jihadist infiltration as a key reason.

“Ending Fulani terrorism is within the military’s power,” Utoo asserted to TruthNigeria, “but there’s no political will. Elements within the military and political leadership—predominantly Fulani—see this violence as a tool to expand Islam’s reach and carve out a Fulani homeland spanning West Africa.”

Fr. Moses Aondover Iorapuu laments that desperate pleas for international intervention have consistently met with silence. “Help is simply not coming,” he said.

Facing this abandonment, Fr. Iorapuu insists Christians have no choice but to take up their defense.

“Those who can defend themselves should no longer look without. The African adage says that if you see your neighbor’s house on fire, you should quickly pour water on your roof. “

Emeka Umeagbalasi, the Director of Intersociety, told CWR that it was time the Trump administration re-designate Nigeria as “a Country of Particular Concern,” a designation by the U.S. Secretary of State for countries that have engaged in or tolerated “particularly severe violations of religious freedom”.

On December 7, 2020, then US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who served in Trump’s first administration, announced Nigeria’s inclusion on the CPC list for the first time, citing “systematic, ongoing, egregious religious freedom violations.”

On November 17, 2021, however, the Biden administration inexplicably removed Nigeria from the CPC list during a visit to Abuja. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, at the time, acknowledged prevailing violence but cited “progress” in Nigerian government efforts, including military operations against jihadists and interfaith dialogues.

Human rights groups strongly condemned the decision. Open Doors called it “a devastating blow,” noting that killings of Christians had surged in 2021.

Amid escalating attacks on Christians in Nigeria, the Intersociety report calls on the US government to take decisive action. The report specifically urges the redesignation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern and the conditioning of U.S. aid to Nigeria on verifiable progress in protecting religious freedom.

These attacks have prompted criticism from the U.S. government. “The Trump administration condemns in the strongest terms this horrific violence against Christians,” a White House statement affirmed, stressing that religious freedom represents both a moral imperative and a fundamental pillar of American foreign policy.

Human rights advocates are calling on African governments to deliver justice, rebuild destroyed communities, and deploy security forces to protect vulnerable villages—actions they say are long overdue.

“For too long, the world has ignored the horrific slaughter of Christians,” lamented Henrietta Blyth, CEO of Open Doors UK and Ireland.

That neglect is felt acutely by victims’ families, who reject government condolences as hollow and insist: “Protection is non-negotiable.”