A civil rights group,  International Society for Civil Rights and Rule of Law (Intersociety), has alleged that 3,083 Nigerian Christians were killed between January and August, 2026.

It further alleged that within the same time frame, no fewer than 3,193 Christians were abducted  while 400 churches were attacked in various parts of the country

These revelations were contained in the latest research report  of the organisation released in Enugu on monday  and signed by  the Lead Researcher and Head of Intersociety Nigeria, Emeka Umeagbalasi,  and Human Rights lawyers, Chidinma Udegbunam and Obianuju  Igboeli.

The report, which noted that the defenceless Christians were killed for their peaceful religious faith by Islamic Jihadists, accused the authorities of not doing much to prevent further attacks.

Explaining that the findings was corroborated by local residents, survivors and eye witnesses in communities where the attacks occurred, the group called for deliberate security efforts to protect Nigerians.

It alleged: “Many of the attacks in the month of August were also found to have taken place in the Middle Belt states of Plateau and Benue. No fewer than 180 defenceless Christians were also found to have been abducted.

“The August 2026 attacks included no fewer than 15 Christians killed in Plateau State between August 2 and 12; as many as 30 Christians massacred in Benue State on August 16; close to 30 Christians killed in Plateau State between August 17 and 18; and 11 suspected Christians killed between August 17 and July 26 in the predominantly Christian hometown of two former Secretaries to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal and Boss Mustapha, in Adamawa State”.

Intersociety held that, “five Christians were killed in Plateau State on August 26; the abduction and gruesome murder of a pastor and four others in Plateau State on August 28; the killing of two Christians in Kaduna State on August 22; and the killing of five Christians between August 25 and September 1 in Riyom, Plateau State, among others.

“The total number of slain Christians for the month of August 2026 included 35 Christian deaths, representing ‘dark figures’, such as the 10 per cent deaths arising from the 180 abducted Christians who are most unlikely to return to their families alive.”

The group  further said that  abducted Christians included no fewer than 92 Christian travellers, mostly from the East, abducted  over two days, August 9 and 13, in Benue, Kogi and Ondo states; five Christians abducted by Boko Haram in Adamawa State between August 17, adding that  no fewer than 25 mostly Eastern Christian travellers were abducted on August 26 in Kogi State, including 15 National Youth Service Corps members; and seven Igbo Christians, including a 10-month-old baby on August 17 in Ndegwu, Owerri West, Imo State.

“There was the abduction of two pastors in Plateau State on August 28 (Gabriel and Emmanuel) and the gruesome murder of Pastor Hills Emmanuel, an evangelical pastor in Bokkos; the abduction of six teenage Christian wood hawkers and another adult Christian on August 24 in a forest in Edo State;.

“The abduction of two Christians in Southern Kaduna on August 22; and the abduction of at least five Christians out of the nine abducted near the ancestral Igbo market of Nkwo Idoko on August 27 in Ojukwu District of Ankpa Local Government Area of Kogi State.

“The abduction of six Igbo Land Christians by suspected Fulani Jihadists in a boundary area of the communities of Amaja and Igogoro in Enugu-Ezike District of Enugu State in late August 2026, totalling 151 abducted Christians, with an addition of 30 abducted Christians representing ‘dark figures’, brought the total number of Christian abductions minimally recorded in August 2026 alone to 180.”

It claimed that about 70 per cent, of the 180 Christians abducted in August 2026 are from Igbo land, adding that Christians being the dominant travellers in the eastern part of the country were taken during their travels to Lagos and Abuja in commercial vehicles, including three 18-seater buses,  14-seater Toyota Hiace bus and an eight-seater Sienna vehicle.

“The number of attacked or destroyed churches in Nigeria since July 2009 is likely to have risen to an estimated 19,800 as of August 2026.

“Apart from the fact that the months of July and August 2026 recorded scores of attacks on churches in Nigeria, the sharp increase in their numbers came from continued and sustained attacks on churches by Muslim Fulani militants in Wukari and Jalingo Dioceses of the Catholic Church, where at least 230 churches belonging to the Church and others have been attacked or destroyed between September 2025 and the end of August 2026, out of which no fewer than 200 have been attacked or destroyed since January 2026”, the group alleged.