Key Points
- Intersociety recorded 450 deaths and 600 abductions of Christians across Nigeria between Jan. 1 and April 6, 2026.
- Easter Sunday alone saw at least 34 Christians killed, with the worst violence in Benue and Kaduna states.
- The group accuses the Nigerian government of spending millions of dollars internationally to suppress narratives of targeted Christian killings.
The numbers are staggering, and Emeka Umeagbalasi wants them on record.
The chairman of the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, known as Intersociety, said Tuesday that 1,402 Christians were killed or abducted by terrorists across Nigeria in the 96 days between New Year’s Day and Easter Monday, April 6, 2026. Of that figure, 450 were killed and 600 were abducted, according to the group’s latest update on documented attacks.
Easter Sunday, the bloodiest single day
Umeagbalasi said Easter Sunday, April 5, was among the deadliest days in the period tracked. At least 34 Christians were killed that day, 17 in Benue State and 15 in Kaduna State, based on eyewitness accounts the group says it obtained directly.
The bloodshed didn’t start on Easter weekend. On Palm Sunday, March 29, at least 40 Christians were killed by Fulani and Boko Haram terrorists in Angwa Rubuka, Eto Baba and nearby student residential areas close to Jos in Plateau State.
US Congressman Riley Moore placed the death toll from that attack at 53. On March 30, Boko Haram insurgents killed at least 21 Christians in the Kautikari community of Chibok County in Southern Borno. Two days earlier, March 28, a roadside bomb along the Pulka-Ngoshe Road killed at least 13 and wounded 24 others.
One in 10 abducted Christians does not survive
Intersociety’s accounting goes beyond battlefield deaths. The group estimates that one in every 10 abducted Christians dies in captivity, a toll it attributes to physical torture, starvation, untreated wounds and other abuses at the hands of jihadist captors. Umeagbalasi said 180 deaths in the current count stem from that category alone.
“Out of every 1,000 abducted, 100 will never come back,” he said.
Government accused of spending millions to manage the narrative
Umeagbalasi did not limit his criticism to the attackers. He accused the Nigerian government of spending tens of millions of dollars since late October 2025 on international lobbying aimed at suppressing what Intersociety describes as a “Nigerian Christian Genocide,” arguing that officials have pushed the alternative framing of farmers-herders conflicts driven by climate change in which Muslims are also victims.
He said those efforts have failed to keep pace with the scale of the violence, and that open admissions by government-affiliated Islamic groups and what he called bias among security chiefs have undermined official denials.
4,513 displaced Christians sheltered in Edo
In a separate development highlighted in the group’s statement, Intersociety visited a humanitarian facility in Edo State housing 4,513 internally displaced persons, most of them Christians fleeing violence in states across northern Nigeria.
The facility, the Home for the Needy Foundation, was founded in 1992 by Pastor Solomon Folorunsho and began receiving large numbers of genocide survivors after 2012.
Umeagbalasi said the Nigerian government has harassed and surveilled the foundation and its leadership over the years, a charge the government has not publicly addressed.
