US President Donald Trump and other American politicians have claimed that Christians are being killed in record numbers in Nigeria, with some describing the situation as "genocide" or "persecution." The Nigerian government disputes these claims, stating that terrorists target individuals of all faiths and that the severity of Christian persecution is being misrepresented. An examination of the data supporting these claims reveals challenges in verification and discrepancies with other monitoring groups' findings.
Allegations from US Politicians
US President Donald Trump recently threatened intervention in Nigeria due to the reported killing of "record numbers of Christians," referring to Nigeria as a "disgraced country" for allegedly allowing these killings. Senator Ted Cruz stated on X (formerly Twitter) that since 2009, over 50,000 Christians have been massacred, and more than 18,000 churches and 2,000 Christian schools have been destroyed. Cruz's office clarified that he describes this as "persecution," not "genocide," and accused Nigerian officials of "ignoring and even facilitating the mass murder of Christians by Islamist jihadists."
The Nigerian government has denied these accusations, stating it is actively working to combat jihadist groups. Some Nigerian officials have indicated openness to US assistance against insurgents, provided it is not unilateral.
Nigeria faces multiple security challenges, including violence from jihadist groups like Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), primarily concentrated in the predominantly Muslim north-east. These groups have been active since 2009.
Origin of Figures Cited
Senator Cruz cited a 2023 report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (InterSociety), a non-governmental organization that monitors human rights in Nigeria. Similar figures have been attributed to InterSociety by other commentators.
InterSociety's August report, which combined prior research with updated numbers for 2025, claimed that jihadist groups in Nigeria had killed over 100,000 Christians between 2009 and 2025. The report also stated that 60,000 "moderate Muslims" died during the same period.
InterSociety did not provide an itemized list of sources to verify its total death counts. In response to criticism, the organization stated that reproducing all past reports and references is "almost impossible," explaining that their method involves combining summary statistics from previous findings with new discoveries. However, the data sources quoted by InterSociety in its reports do not consistently reflect the published figures.
2025 Death Toll Claims and Verification
For the period between January and August 2025, InterSociety reported over 7,000 Christian deaths, a figure widely shared on social media. InterSociety listed 70 media reports as sources for its findings regarding attacks on Christians in 2025.
However, a BBC analysis of these sources found that approximately half of the original news stories did not specify the religious identity of the victims. For instance, InterSociety quoted an Al Jazeera report about an abduction in Borno State, stating "not less than 40 farmers mainly Christians were abducted." The original Al Jazeera report did not mention the victims being "mainly Christians." InterSociety stated it performs further analysis to identify victims' backgrounds, citing knowledge of local populations and "Christian media reports."
The BBC's aggregation of deaths from the 70 reports cited by InterSociety totaled approximately 3,000 deaths, not 7,000. Some attacks also appeared to be reported multiple times. InterSociety attributed this discrepancy to estimates of deaths in captivity and unpublicized eyewitness testimonies.
Categorization of Perpetrators
InterSociety's reports identify Islamist militant groups like Boko Haram and Fulani herders as perpetrators, describing the Fulani herders as "jihadists." The Fulani are a predominantly Muslim ethnic group involved in cattle and sheep rearing across West Africa.
The classification of Fulani herders as "jihadists" is a point of contention in Nigeria regarding the categorization of these conflicts. While Fulani herders are Muslim, many researchers in the field argue that these clashes are primarily related to competition over land and water resources, not religion. Fulani herders have been involved in conflicts with both Muslim and Christian communities.
Security analyst Christian Ani stated that classifying Fulani herders as jihadists is a "far stretch," suggesting the conflicts are driven by "rogue and criminal elements." Confidence McHarry, a senior security analyst at SBM Intelligence, observed that clashes often stem from ethnic tensions and resource competition, noting that how these incidents are perceived can change if communities are displaced and worship centers are attacked.
InterSociety also references "bandits" in Nigeria, describing them mostly as ethnic Fulanis in the north-west involved in kidnapping and responsible for killing both Christians and Muslims.
Advocacy Efforts
Concerns regarding threats to Nigerian Christians have been a long-standing topic among US politicians and international Christian groups. In the past, the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob), a proscribed Nigerian group advocating for a breakaway state in the predominantly Christian south-east, has raised these issues in the US. InterSociety has been accused by the Nigerian military of links to Ipob, a claim the NGO denies.
Another Biafran separatist group, the Biafra Republic Government in Exile (BRGIE), claimed to have significantly contributed to promoting the "Christian genocide" narrative in the US Congress through lobbying and meetings with US officials. Senator Cruz declined to comment on this claim.
Data from Other Research Groups
InterSociety's figures for Christian deaths in Nigeria are notably higher than those reported by other data sources.
Acled, an organization monitoring violence in West Africa, provides publicly traceable data. Ladd Stewart, a senior analyst at Acled, indicated that a figure of 100,000 deaths would encompass all acts of political violence in Nigeria, not solely Christian deaths, since 2009.
Acled's data reports approximately 53,000 civilians, including both Muslims and Christians, killed in targeted political violence since 2009. From 2020 to September 2025, Acled recorded about 21,000 civilian deaths from abductions, attacks, sexual violence, and explosives. During the same period, Acled identified 384 incidents where Christians were specifically targeted, resulting in 317 deaths. Acled collects data from traditional media, verified social media reports, human rights groups, and local partners.
Open Doors Reporting
President Trump cited a figure of 3,100 Christians killed in Nigeria, referencing an Open Doors report for the 12 months starting October 2023. Open Doors is a charity that researches Christian persecution globally.
Its report indicated that 3,100 Christians and 2,320 Muslims were killed during that 12-month period. Open Doors categorizes "Fulani Terror Groups" as perpetrators, attributing almost a third of Christian deaths during that time to them.
Frans Veerman, a senior research fellow at Open Doors, observed that while Christians continue to be targeted, "increasingly some Muslims are targeted by Fulani militants." Analysts also note numerous violent attacks on mosques and Muslim communities in the north-west. McHarry suggested this falls within "broader insecurity," explaining that the lack of a religious dimension attribution in these specific cases is often because the perpetrators are also Muslim.