The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Inter-Society) has raised serious concerns over what it describes as a widespread and systematic campaign of violence targeting Christian and ethnic communities in Nigeria, particularly across the South East and Middle Belt regions.
In a statement released on Easter Monday in Owerri, the capital of Imo State, the organisation alleged that since mid-2015, no fewer than 20,300 unarmed residents in the South East have lost their lives at the hands of suspected herdsmen and allegedly complicit federal security operatives.
The statement, jointly signed by Inter-Society’s chairman Emeka Umeagbalasi and the organisation’s Head of Democracy and Governance, Chinwe Umeche, further claimed that approximately 19,000 churches and over 3,000 Christian schools and religious institutions have been either destroyed, abandoned or razed—particularly in the Middle Belt states of Benue, Plateau and Southern Kaduna.
“Shocking statistics on the ground across the country’s six geopolitical regions have clearly shown that an estimated 40 million indigenous Northern Christians have been uprooted since the July 2009 Boko Haram uprising. This displacement has escalated significantly since mid-2015 with the alleged takeover of state power and resources by radical elements within the Muslim Fulani population and their Hausa allies,” the group said.
Inter-Society asserted that entire Christian communities have been driven from their ancestral lands, citing fears of rape, abduction, murder, or coerced conversion to radical Islamic ideologies. The organisation also claimed that many of the vacated territories have been renamed, repopulated, and turned into armed settlements stocked with livestock and weapons.
Covering the first quarter of 2025, Inter-Society reported that between 1,500 and 2,000 Christians were killed in Benue, Plateau, and Southern Kaduna, while between 800 and 1,000 individuals were reportedly abducted and transported to camps operated by jihadist groups. Additionally, over 1,000 homes were said to have been destroyed by fire or demolished.
In the South East, the organisation reiterated that over 20,300 people have been “hacked to death or killed” since 2015 as a result of their ethnic identity and religious beliefs, allegedly by jihadist actors and “federally deployed biased security forces.”
The group also condemned the conduct of national security agencies, accusing them of neglect and prejudice in their responses to these attacks.
“We condemn the gross inaction of security agencies. Their deceitful post-crisis responses and discriminatory law enforcement have failed to prevent the continuous attacks,” the statement read.
Inter-Society warned that the continued violence threatens the fabric of peaceful religious and ethnic coexistence in Nigeria, urging immediate intervention to stem the tide of displacement and bloodshed.