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In a chilling investigative report released by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), the organization has identified 950 locations across 770–800 Igbo communities in South-East Nigeria that are currently under occupation or direct threat by armed Jihadist Fulani herdsmen and their allies.

The findings, drawn from extensive field research, paint a harrowing picture of systemic territorial encroachment, religious violence, and governmental complicity in the region.

The report, titled “Research And Investigative Discovery Of 950 Locations…Presently Under Occupation Or Threats Of Attack By Armed Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen…”, accuses the five Christian governors of the South-East—four Catholic and one Seventh Day Adventist—of vicarious or direct complicity in the crisis. Download the full Intersociety Investigative Report here

According to Intersociety, approximately 40% of the 1,940 traditional Igbo communities are “gravely facing dangers of jihadist occupation or under threats of the same.” The group warns that the affected areas are under “gross threats to territorial, personal, collective, faith, ethnic and infrastructural security and safety.”

“Conspiratorial Role” of South-East Governors

The report does not mince words in its allegation that the governors—of Enugu, Anambra, Ebonyi, Imo, and Abia States—are engaged in what it describes as a “land swap deal” in exchange for “electoral victory and post-election court wins.” Intersociety claims that governors have “conspiratorially ceded communal lands” and secretly issued Certificates of Occupancy to jihadist patrons.

“Our investigative findings exposed a ‘three-way direct or vicarious involvement’ of the Five South-East Christian Governors… particularly by way of bureaucratic and policy legitimization of such jihadist settlements despite inherent security and safety dangers involved,” the report states.

A Complicit Clergy

Beyond the political leadership, Intersociety also directed its criticism toward religious leaders in the region, accusing top Episcopal and pastoral figures of silence, complicity, and political alignment. The organization noted that some church leaders now publicly deny or misrepresent attacks by armed herdsmen due to “gubernatorial or political facilitation.”

“Top leaders of Christian Faith especially Episcopal and Pastoral heads of the Catholic, the Anglican and the Pentecostal churches have joined them [the governors]… forcing them to lose their assertiveness, independent voicing and Episcopal neutrality,” the report reads.

A Decade of Violence and Impunity

Intersociety provides sobering data to contextualize the scale of the crisis. It estimates that between May 2015 and May 2025, over 20,500 to 21,000 defenseless South-Easterners have been killed by a combination of jihadist militias and “Jihad-enablers within the country’s security forces.”

The report accuses Nigerian security forces of gross partisanship and selective enforcement, pointing out that few or no Fulani jihadist suspects have been arrested, prosecuted, or neutralized during the same period.

“An estimated 40% of roadway killings and kidnappings in the South-East have been traced to jihadist camps,” the report notes. “Yet, they are rarely identified in the operational records of the Armed Forces or Police Crack Squads.”

Echoes from Benue: A Cautionary Tale

In an effort to underscore the threat, Intersociety cited the ongoing jihadist violence in Benue State, Nigeria’s largest Christian-majority state in the North. According to Rev. Father Joseph Beba of the Makurdi Catholic Diocese, 15 parishes have been closed down and over 50 Christians killed in just two weeks of May 2025.

Warnings and a Call to Action

The group urges urgent action, warning that the South-East is on a dangerous path similar to Benue, Plateau, and Southern Kaduna, regions devastated by prolonged jihadist violence.

“It is not as if the Five South-East Christian Governors are not aware of grave dangers inherent in leasing and mortgaging the… security and safety of the South-East,” the report insists. “They are fully aware and not blind to the goings-on.”

Commendation for Local Resistance

Despite the grim findings, Intersociety praised communities such as Okahia in Obingwa (Abia State), Umuapu-Ohaji and Obitti-Ohaji in Ohaji/Egbema (Imo State) for their courage and outspokenness in the face of the threats.

Final Word

Signed by Emeka Umeagbalasi (Criminologist and Lead Researcher) and his team—including prominent human rights lawyers Chinwe Umeche and Obianuju Joy Igboeli—the report concludes with an urgent plea for civil resistance, religious accountability, and state-level protection of ethnic and religious identity in the face of what it warns could escalate into full-scale displacement or worse.

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