No fewer than 19,100 churches have been sacked in Nigeria in the past 16 years by Jihadists, according to a rights group, International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety.)

Intersociety’s Chairman, Emeka Umeagbalasi, in a statement released on Sunday night, stated that an estimated 1,200 churches had been either razed or dislocated yearly from July 2009 to 2025.

In the statement he signed alongside two human rights lawyers, Obianuju Joy Igboeli and Chidinma Udegbulam, he stated that severely affected states in the dislocation and burning down of churches are Taraba, Adamawa, Kebbi, Borno, Katsina, Niger, Kogi, Nasarawa, Plateau, Benue, Bauchi, Yobe, Southern Kaduna and Gombe states.

“It is also statistically found that more than 1,000 churches belonging to members of the Organisation of the African Instituted Churches, a branch of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and allied others have also been attacked, burnt down or sacked.

“Church facilities belonging to such white clothing churches have also been falsely labelled as ‘training camps for IPOB/ESN/Biafra agitators’, leading to their attack and destruction by security forces, during which members of the traditional religion, especially their herbalist-priests, were indiscriminately targeted for instant death or abduction and disappearance by Security forces”, the statement noted.

The statement said that attacks on Christian churches across Nigeria were affecting the congregation and growth, adding that the Catholic mission in Nigeria was suffering from such attacks.

It listed places where the Catholic mission in Nigeria was suffering attacks, including Benue, Plateau and Niger dioceses.