The statistics are chilling. In just 180 days this year, one report says at least 2,550 Christians were killed in Nigeria. The 2026 mid-year report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law, Intersociety, published July 2, also documents 2,800 cases of abductions, the destruction of 300 churches, and the forced conversion of 800 Christians to Islam.

The Director of Intersociety and Nigeria’s top tracker of Christian persecution, Emeka Umeagbalasi, agrees with an earlier study by the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa, which finds that while the international community’s gaze remains fixed on Boko Haram, the primary engine of religious violence in Nigeria is actually a highly coordinated network of Fulani militias.

Speaking to Crux Now, Umeagbalasi argues that the killing of Christians is not a mere failure of security, but a state-sponsored enterprise of mala in se crimes—acts universally recognized as inherently evil. He says these are facilitated by a radicalized military and covered up by compromised political and religious leaders.