‘1,402 Nigerians killed, abducted by terrorists in 96 days’

Defence minister, Musa

International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Intersociety, has said that terrorists operating in Nigeria have killed and abducted 1,402 Christians in 96 days, spanning from January 1, 2026, New Year’s Day, to Easter Monday, April 6, 2026. The group, in its recent update on various attacks, said 450 people were killed between January and April 6, 2026, while 600 were abducted within the period under review.

The Chairman of Intersociety, Mr Emeka Umeagbalasi, in a statement, said that the massacre of Christians and persecution of churches (Nigerian Christian Genocide) in Nigeria has continued to widen and escalate, with state actor involvement deepening unchecked.

He said that despite tens of millions of dollars wasted since the end of October 2025 by the Government of Nigeria in international lobbying to deny and erase traces of “Nigerian Christian Genocide” and additional multimillion dollars wasted in globetrotting seeking to internationally downplay Christian Genocide,the menace has continued.

Umeagbalasi accused the government of attempting to replace attacks and killings with false narratives of “farmers-herders’ clashes brought about climate change, in which Muslims were also killed”.

The Intersociety boss stated that despite the efforts to suppress the narratives, the massacre of Christians and persecution of churches have continued and become increasingly widespread; to the extent that such state actor denials have been dwarfed by growing manifestations of gross bias and open protection of the terrorists by Nigeria’s security chiefs and recent open admissions by government-affiliated Islamic groups.

According to Umeagbalasi, “The ‘350 Christian deaths’ included 102 deaths recorded in the Holy Week of March 28 to Saturday, April 4, 2026; 34 deaths recorded on Easter Sunday of April 5, 2026 alone; 20 Christian deaths recorded between March 20 and March 27 and the added ‘dark figures of 16 deaths.

“It is also clarified that 180 of the 35 Christian deaths are those arising from 1,800 (10%) abducted Christians across Nigeria since Jan 2026 and were not included in our updated Report of March 19, 2026. Such jihadist captivity deaths must have arisen from physical torture, starvation, gunshot wounds, machete cuts, untreated injuries and other inhuman or degrading treatments during the affected victims’ captivity in the hands of jihadists.