(Photo: Getty/iStock)
The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) has reported that 1,402 Christians were killed by armed groups in Nigeria over a 96-day period this year.
The incidents are said to have occurred between January 1, 2026, and April 6, 2026, spanning from New Year’s Day to Easter Monday, Nigeria’s Daily Post newspaper reports.
In its latest update, Intersociety said that 1,800 Christians were abducted in the same period – with 180 of the abductees killed.
“Out of every 1,000 abducted, 100 will never come back,” said Intersociety chairman, Emeka Umeagbalasi.
The figures form part of a broader pattern of violence affecting Christian communities in several regions of the country, with Mr Umeagbalasi saying that the scale of the attacks points to a worsening security situation.
The report highlighted a surge in violence during the Easter period, with more than 100 deaths recorded during Holy Week alone, including 34 people killed on Easter Sunday.
The Easter Sunday deaths were concentrated mainly in Benue and Kaduna states, where 17 and 15 Christians were killed respectively.
Other recent attacks include the killing of at least 21 Christians in the Kautikari Christian community of Chibok County in southern Borno on March 30, and a Palm Sunday assault near Jos in Plateau State in which more than 40 Christians were reportedly killed, although US Congressman Riley Moore placed the death toll at 53.
Mr Umeagbalasi drew attention to the dangers faced by abducted Christians, saying that a proportion of victims die in captivity due to injuries from machete attacks and gunshots, torture, harsh conditions, or lack of medical care.
He accused Nigerian authorities not only of failing to stop the violence but also of seeking to downplay what he described as the ongoing genocide of Christians in the country.
He alleged that officials have tried to recast the killings as climate-driven farmer-herder clashes in which Muslims are also victims, rather than acknowledging them as targeted anti-Christian attacks.
He further claimed that the government has spent millions on international lobbying and publicity efforts aimed at dismissing or minimising reports of anti-Christian persecution.
Mr Umeagbalasi believes the crisis has been worsened by the complicity of state actors, accusing security chiefs and government-linked Islamic groups of showing bias and, in some cases, offering open protection to the terrorists.
He pointed to the humanitarian fallout of the violence, highlighting that the Home for the Needy Foundation near Benin in Edo State is currently sheltering 4,513 internally displaced persons, many of them Christians who have fled attacks in states including Borno, Southern Kaduna, Adamawa, Niger, Plateau and Benue.
Mr Umeagbalasi praised the work of the foundation and its founder, Pastor Solomon Folorunsho, while alleging that they had been “harassed and attacked for being a Christian charity”.
