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The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) has released a shocking report alleging that no fewer than 19,100 Christian churches have been razed or sacked across Nigeria in the last sixteen years, averaging 1,200 annually, 100 monthly and more than three every day, since the outbreak of the Boko Haram insurgency in July 2009.

In a detailed press statement, on Sunday, signed by its principal officers led by criminologist and researcher Emeka Umeagbalasi, the rights group said its findings were based on “severally gathered statistics from multiple sources in the past years,” which indicate that “Nigeria’s Islamic Jihadists and Jihad enablers cutting across security, defense and political establishments have in the past sixteen years or since July 2009 Boko Haram Uprising caused estimated 1200 Christian churches to be razed or sacked on yearly basis, during which 19,100 churches in all were lost, 100 sacked every month and more than three every day.”

The group placed these numbers within the context of Nigeria’s religious demographics, stating that “by our recent investigative checks, Nigeria is home to estimated 113 million Christians including estimated 32 million sedentary Christians and 8 million pastoral Christians in the North and estimated 70 million indigenous Christians in the South.

“Among the 40 million sedentary or indigenous and non-indigenous Christians presently in Northern Nigeria are 3 million traditional worshippers, many, if not most of whom are Christianity-affiliated, having been baptized in Christianity and bearing Christian names.

“Among the estimated 70 million indigenous Christians in the South are 10 million traditional worshippers, greater number of whom are Christianity-affiliated. Nigeria is also home to estimated 100 million Muslims including estimated 76 million in the North and 24 million in the South”, the statement stated.

According to Intersociety, the destruction of churches took place in waves, beginning with Boko Haram’s violent insurgency. “Apart from estimated 13,000 churches attacked, burned down or destroyed or violently shut down between July 2009 and December 2014, additional 6,100 others are likely to have been lost to the country’s Islamic Jihadists and Jihad enablers since midyear of 2015 in severely affected States of Taraba, Adamawa, Kebbi, Borno, Kastina, Niger, Kogi, Nasarawa, Plateau, Benue, Bauchi, Yobe, Southern Kaduna and Gombe,” the group disclosed.

The organization alleged that “more than 1,000 churches belonging to members of the Organization of the African Instituted Churches, a branch of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and allied others have also been attacked, burned down or sacked; with most of their attackers identified as military personnel and police crack squads or their joint taskforces including personnel of the country’s spy police, perpetrated using ‘IPOB/ESN/Unknown Gunmen/Biafra counterinsurgency operations in the East’ as a pretext.”

The Intersociety said that “the ethno-religious profiling and cleansing operations in the East are found to have started since January 2021 in Orlu part of Imo State in South-East Nigeria, during the country’s security forces and their commanders targeted traditional religionists and their sacred sanctuaries using false labeling and mass criminalization premised on false narrative that ‘since IPOB and its leaders are followers of Jewish religion in the East, white clothing Christian religionists anywhere in the East are IPOB/ESN/Biafra agitators deserving to be abducted or shot dead at sight.’”

The statement went on to say that “church facilities belonging to such white clothing churches have also been falsely labeled as training camps for IPOB/ESN/Biafra agitators, leading to their attack and destruction by security forces; during which members of the traditional religion especially their herbalist-priests were indiscriminately targeted for instant death or abduction and disappearance by security forces.”

Intersociety also described how these attacks have uprooted entire Christian communities and left churches deserted.

It said that “attacks on Christian churches and threatening and uprooting of their congregational members across Nigeria have severely uprooted and emptied thousands of their parishes and outstations and affected many, if not most parts of the 16 Dioceses of the Catholic Mission in Nigeria; to the extent that Archdiocese of Kaduna, covering Diocese of Sokoto-with Parishes of Zamfara, Kebbi and Katsina presently exists with skeletal parishes and outstations, forced them into a state of near-empty church buildings.”

The report added that “Benue State’s four Dioceses of Makurdi, Gboko, Okukpo and Katsina-Ala; home to largest Catholics and denominational Christians in Northern Nigeria, followed by Plateau State; have been threatened and almost uprooted; with more than twenty of their parishes and hundreds of outstations threatened and closed by Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen.

In Plateau State, Catholic Archdiocese of Jos (Ecclesiastical Province of Jos), comprising Dioceses of Bauchi, Maiduguri, Jalingo (Taraba State), Pankshin (Plateau State), Shendam (Plateau State), Wukari (Taraba State) and Yola (Adamawa State) are facing serious congregational emptiness and evangelical devastation.

Same goes to Catholic Dioceses of Minna and Kontagora in Niger State where dominant Christian communities in Shiroro, Munya, Rafi, Paikoro, etc., have been uprooted and placed under siege by combined forces of the Islamic Jihadists led by Jihadist Boko Haram and Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen/Bandits. The Catholic Diocese of Lokoja under Archdiocese of Abuja is also facing serious threat, worsened by recent Jihadist activities of Mahmuda and Lakaruwa Islamic Jihadists and their patrons.”

The organization reiterated its mission to expose these atrocities and hold perpetrators accountable, declaring that “our monitoring and tracking are aimed at identifying perpetrators of such heinous crimes, their victims and perpetrators and the society or community wronged or desecrated; and ensuring justice for victims and society wronged and adequate measures or punishments visited upon the perpetrators to deter others and prevent repeat-perpetration.

“All these we do using six major advocacy strategies or methods including: tracking, compilation and analysis reports or works done by local and international media, human rights and researchers, using verifiable individual and groups’ reports or pieces of evidence including those from leaders of the affected Christian communities or other religious bodies, using verified government reports such as those emanating from security agencies, using findings from diplomatic and intergovernmental bodies, deploying our field research assistants at incident or crime scenes for purposes of data collection, analysis, documentation and publication and using and building our fresh reports on our previous statistics and reports.”

Citing corroborating evidence, the group quoted several reports including Open Doors of January 2015 which found that “Boko Haram Islamic insurgency of July 2009 to December 2014 (in a period of five years) wantonly destroyed or burned down 13,000 churches and 1,500 Christian schools, directly killed between 11,500 and 12,500 Christians and forced over 1.3m others to flee to avoid being hacked to death or forcefully converted to Islam.”

It referenced Vanguard Newspaper of September 22, 2016 which reported that “13,000 churches were destroyed, 1,500 Christian schools attacked and destroyed and their 611 teachers killed…14.8m Nigerians were directly affected and not less than 2.2m IDPs generated and 2.15m others displaced.”

Intersociety also cited Sahara Reporters of June 3, 2020, where the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria (EYN) disclosed that “Boko Haram Jihadist insurgents killed 8,370 of its members between July 2009 and May 2020, a period of eleven years in the four North-East States of Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, Taraba. The Church further stated that its over 1.5m members were also threatened for being Christians, during which 700,000 were displaced, eight of its pastors killed, 53 of its 60 district church councils directly affected and 300 of its 586 branches either burned down or destroyed.

“The church which spoke through its then President, Rev Joel Billi, also disclosed that 217 of the 276 abducted Chibok girls belonged to the church; adding that many of their church members were abducted and killed or disappeared; and their communities uprooted and threatened or forced into refugee camps in Cameroon.”

The report continued with the Benue State branch of CAN which disclosed that Fulani herdsmen incursions “led to the destruction of over 500 churches in parts of the state” as reported by Vanguard on March 14, 2018. Intersociety noted that “since then the attacks have recorded exponential increase resulting in the loss of multiple hundreds or thousands of churches including hundreds of Catholic parishes and outstations, to the extent that in May 2025, 14 Catholic parishes were attacked and forced to be shut down under the Makurdi Diocese, during which more than 50 Christians including Catholic parishioners were massacred by Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen in fourteen days.”

Quoting News Express Online of August 16, 2025, the report said Catholic priests in Benue State expressed outrage over the destruction and desecration of St. Paul’s Parish, Aye-Twar in Katsina-Ala Local Government and the occupation of 26 other outstations by Fulani herdsmen. Release International’s report of July 10, 2024 was also cited, which stated that “terrorists in Nigeria who are targeting and burning churches have forced one leading denomination to shut down 70 of its congregations in Plateau State alone.”

According to the statement, “continuing attacks in Mangu and Bokkos counties have forced churches to close and are preventing evangelistic outreach in Northeastern Nigeria, according to the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN).”

The organization also cited Frontline Reporters of September 13, 2023 which documented “over 200 churches shut down in Birnin Gwari, Chikun and Kajuru parts of Kaduna in four years and not less than 23 pastors killed.” Premier Christian News of October 8, 2014 was also referenced, which reported that “185 parishes belonging to Catholic Mission in Nigeria were set ablaze and 200,000 parishioners forced to flee in just two months of August and September 2014 in Adamawa and Borno States alone.”

Signed by Emeka Umeagbalasi, Obianuju Joy Igboeli, Esq., and Chidinma Udegbunam, Esq., the Intersociety report concluded with a stark reminder: “We remind all and sundry that we track and monitor these atrocities not only to record history but to ensure justice, accountability, and to prevent repeat perpetration.”

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