The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), a prominent Nigerian research and investigative advocacy group, today issued a strong condemnation of the papal invitation extended to Nigerian President Bola Tinubu to attend the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV (formerly Cardinal Francis Robert Prevost) at the Vatican on Sunday, May 18, 2025.

 

In a statement released from its Onitsha office, Intersociety declared the invitation “undeserved and totally rejected,” asserting that the global Catholic Church, numbering over 1.4 billion adherents, has experienced significant “denominational and religious retardation, under-growth and under-development in Nigeria” since the Boko Haram insurgency began in July 2009 and what they term the “Jihadist Fulani State Power Conquest” since June 2015.

 

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The group accused President Tinubu and his predecessor, former President Muhammadu Buhari, of “inaction, inability, unwillingness and complicity” in allowing Nigeria to become “the worst country on earth to practice Christianity,” where, according to Intersociety, “one Christian is hacked to death on an hourly basis.” They further claimed Nigeria has recorded the highest number of destroyed or burned churches and Christian schools globally under these administrations.

 

The Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, recently extended the invitation to President Tinubu, who swiftly accepted and announced his travel to Rome on Saturday, May 17. The presidential delegation is expected to include Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, and several prominent Catholic clerics, including Archbishops Lucius Ugorji, Ignatius Kaigama, Alfred Martins, and Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah.

Intersociety, however, strongly condemned the inclusion of these Catholic bishops in the presidential itinerary, calling it “strongly condemnable” and suggesting it “exposes the conspiracy of the country’s Christian leaders in grisly and egregious attacks by Jihadists and their patrons against Christians and their properties.”

 

The group expressed concern that such clerics’ “much political attachment” to top political office holders has “brutally robbed Christian leaders of vocal and assertive voicing and powers” in defending the Christian faith and securing the safety of lay Christians.

 

Stark Statistics on Christian Persecution in Nigeria

The advocacy group presented grim statistics, claiming that in the past two years of President Tinubu’s administration (May 2023-May 2025), an estimated 15,640 Christians have been killed by “Islamic Jihadists,” averaging 7,820 deaths per year, 650 per month, 22 per day, and one per hour. During the same period, an estimated 14,600 defenseless Christians were abducted on the grounds of their faith, with an average of 7,300 abductions per year, 608 per month, 20 per day, and almost one per hour. Of these abductees, 1,460 (10%) are estimated to have died in captivity.
Breaking down the figures further, Intersociety states that:

• From January to December 2023, approximately 8,200 Christians were killed, with no fewer than 5,400 of those deaths occurring between June and December 2023 under President Tinubu’s watch.
• Out of 8,400 abducted Christians in 2023, at least 5,300 were abducted between June and December.
• In 2024, approximately 6,500 Christians were killed and 7,000 abducted.
• In the first five months of 2025, at least 2,170 Christians have been killed and 2,300 abducted.

These figures, Intersociety emphasizes, contribute to the total of at least 15,640 Christian deaths and 14,600 abductions in the past two years under President Tinubu. They also noted that thousands of moderate Muslims were also separately killed or abducted during this period.

 

Intersociety attributes religiously motivated killings in Nigeria to three main grounds: “Jihad under ‘dar al-Islam’,” “Jihad under ‘dar al-harb’,” and “strongly suspected State protected religious killings linked to Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen and Jihadist Fulani Bandits.”

 

Millions of Northern Christians Displaced and Threatened

The report also highlighted the systematic displacement of an estimated 40 million indigenous Christians in Northern Nigeria who have been “uprooted, threatened or abducted and disappeared or hacked to death or forced to flee their homes and sacred places of worship or learning.”

 

The group provided state-by-state breakdowns of the estimated number of Christians impacted, including:

• Benue: 5.8 million Christians (95% of the state’s 6.2 million population)
• Plateau: 4.4 million Christians (95% of the state’s 4.7 million population)
• Niger: 2.3 million Christians (40% of the state’s 6.7 million population)
• Kaduna: 4 million Christians (40% of the state’s 9.9 million population)
• Adamawa: 2.4 million Christians (40% of the state’s 4.9 million population)
• Taraba: 2.8 million Christians (75% of the state’s 3.9 million population)
• Nasarawa: 900,000 Christians (30% of the state’s 3.1 million population)
• Kogi: 1.9 million Christians (40% of the state’s 4.7 million population)
• Borno: 590,000 Christians (10% of the state’s 5.9 million population)
• Bauchi: 1.4 million Christians (15% of the state’s 9.2 million population)
• Yobe: 180,000 Christians (5% of the state’s 3.7 million population)
• Kebbi: 300,000 Christians (5% of the state’s 6 million population)
• Kano: 1 million Christians (6% of the state’s 16.3 million population)
• Gombe: 1 million Christians (40% of the state’s 3.5 million population)
• FCT: 1.6 million Christians (52% of its estimated 3.1 million population)

These figures, totaling approximately 32 million, are augmented by an additional 8 million “urbanized Christians” in these states facing threats and abuse. Intersociety also noted a dangerous increase in threats and attacks by Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen and Bandits on Christians in the South-East, South-South, and South-West regions, rising from 0.5% in January-May 2015 to 30% in the Old Eastern Region and 35% in the Old Western Region.

 

The statement was signed by Emeka Umeagbalasi (Lead-Researcher/Head), Chinwe Umeche, Esq. (Human Rights Lawyer/Head, Democracy and Good Governance), Engineer Ekene Bede Umeagu (Head, Religious Freedom and Human Rights), and Obianuju Joy Igboeli, Esq. (Head, Civil Liberties and Rule of Law). Intersociety reiterated its long-standing reputation for credible research and statistical reports on attacks against religious minorities in Nigeria.