Abuja: A damning new report has revealed that Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, continues to be the most dangerous country in the world for Christians, with at least 3,083 Christians killed and 3,193 others abducted in just eight months of 2026 in attacks blamed on jihadist groups and radicalized Fulani militias.
The report was released on September 7 by the International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law, known as Intersociety, a leading human rights watchdog based in Onitsha. The group said July and August were perhaps the bloodiest months of the year, with 437 Christians hacked to death and 393 abducted in coordinated night attacks across the Middle Belt region.
According to the report, besides killings and abductions, at least 400 churches and Christian worship centres were attacked, burnt or destroyed, while 25 Catholic priests and Protestant pastors were either killed or taken away by armed groups. The report described the violence as systematic and targeted at wiping out Christian presence.
Most of the atrocities are concentrated in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, the volatile fault line where the largely Muslim North meets the largely Christian South. States like Benue, Plateau, Taraba, Southern Kaduna, and parts of Niger State have become killing fields. The report gave a shocking example from Wukari Diocese in Taraba State, where about 239 church buildings were attacked or destroyed between September 2025 and August 2026 alone, and nearly 100,000 parishioners were uprooted and forced into IDP camps.
In Wukari, over 200 Christian communities were sacked and displaced, 16 Catholic priests were forced to flee their parishes, and residences of eight priests were razed. Intersociety said the pattern shows a clear plan to occupy Christian ancestral lands after chasing the people away, a process local bishops call land grabbing and Islamization.
The report also tracked long-term losses of major churches. The Church of the Brethren in Nigeria and the Universal Reformed Christian Church have collectively lost more than 27,000 members and thousands of churches since July 2009 when Boko Haram started its campaign to create an Islamic caliphate. In 2020 alone, the Church of the Brethren said it lost 8,600 members and hundreds of worship centres to Boko Haram, while the Universal Reformed Christian Church lost 5,987 members and 753 churches.
Since 2009, when Boko Haram began its murderous campaign, Intersociety documented that at least 19,800 churches have been attacked across Nigeria. The group’s Lead Researcher and Principal Head, Emeka Umeagbalasi, a devout Catholic, told Catholic World Report that the total Christian death toll since 2009 has reached a staggering 130,783, while at least 82,603 Christians have been kidnapped or abducted during the same period. He warned that about 20 percent of the abducted may never return alive.
The report has again reignited the global debate on whether what is happening in Nigeria amounts to genocide. Global persecution monitors have been sounding the alarm for years. Open Doors, which monitors Christian persecution worldwide, says Nigeria has been the most violent place in the world for followers of Jesus for several years, noting that imposition of Sharia Law in 12 northern states has made life extremely difficult for Christians.
Global Christian Relief describes Nigeria as a global epicenter for the martyrdom of Christians, explaining that each year at least 4,000 Christians are killed by extremist organizations in Nigeria, a figure that often surpasses the combined total of Christian deaths from persecution everywhere else in the world.
Political leaders in the United States have also weighed in. American comedian Bill Maher in September last year said Nigerian Christians were facing a genocide, stating Boko Haram had killed over 100,000 since 2009 and burned 18,000 churches. US Senator Ted Cruz wrote on X that since 2009 over 50,000 Christians have been massacred and over 18,000 churches and 2,000 Christian schools destroyed, accusing Nigerian authorities of ignoring and even facilitating the mass murder.
Even former US President Donald Trump described Nigeria as a disgraced country, saying the government continues to allow the killing of Christians. On June 8, 2026, United Nations human rights experts warned of rights violations against women and girls from Christian and other minority communities, noting that violence targeting Christians and other religious minorities continues to be rampant and that Christian women face heightened risks of sexual violence, abduction, forced conversion and child marriage.
The Nigerian government, however, has consistently denied that the violence is one-sided. In its official response, the government said terrorists attack all who reject their murderous ideology, whether Muslims, Christians, or those of no faith. Intersociety itself noted that between 2009 and March 2026, 128,750 Christians were killed and 61,400 moderate Muslims were also killed by jihadist groups, while 81,100 Christians and 50,000 moderate Muslims were abducted, showing that moderate Muslims who oppose extremism are also targets.
But Catholic bishops on the ground strongly reject the both-sides narrative. Bishop Wilfred Chikpa Anagbe of Makurdi Diocese in Benue State, where 98 percent of the population is Christian, insists that what is unfolding is a clear genocide against Christians. He warned that the total elimination of the Christian population is underway at the hands of jihadists who massacre civilians, raze churches, torch farmland and drive communities from their homes to occupy the land, which he calls a calculated strategy of Islamization.
To illustrate the horror, Bishop Anagbe cited the Yelewata massacre where approximately 200 people were killed, many burned alive in a locked room, including two babies just three and five months old. Recent reports in July 2026 from Naridon said 11 children were among 30 slaughtered in one attack, while in August survivors in Kaduna said attackers told parents, we will spare you and kill all your children, and executed six children from a single family while parents were forced to watch.
Intersociety researcher Umeagbalasi warned that if the current trend continues unchecked, Christianity could be wiped out from large parts of northern and central Nigeria in the next 100 years. He said it is a genocide by any definition under international law because of the intent to destroy a religious group in whole or in part. The report called on the Nigerian government, the African Union, the United Nations and the international community to act urgently to protect Christians and moderate Muslims before the country slides further into sectarian cleansing.
