by Antonio Graceffo, Gateway Pundit
Currently, more Christians are being systematically murdered in Nigeria than in all other countries of concern combined.
In 2025, over 7,000 Nigerian Christians were murdered by Islamic militants, including Boko Haram, also known as JAS, Islamic State – West African Province (ISWAP), JNIM, an Al-Qaeda affiliate, and Fulani and Koyam militias. Countless others have been abducted and held for ransom or never returned.
The problem has been described by prominent voices as “Islamization” and “Fulanization.” Violence in 2026 is already outpacing previous years, and with Nigerian general elections approaching, political tensions are high.
Federal and state intervention remains limited, and attacks continue on an almost daily basis across the North, East, and Middle Belt regions. Over Passion Week, violence struck Christian communities throughout the Middle Belt, specifically in Kaduna and Jos.
Open Doors documented 2,830 Christians kidnapped in 2024. In the first seven months of 2025 alone, Intersociety recorded 7,800 Christians kidnapped, approximately 35 per day.
The Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa reported that over four years the Fulani Ethnic Militia alone carried out over 21,000 abductions in the North-Central Zone and Southern Kaduna, with return rates not publicly tracked. Of those taken, 91 Chibok girls remain unaccounted for, along with an unknown number from subsequent school kidnappings whose release was never confirmed.
Four kidnapped Catholic priests remain in captivity as of early 2026. Fr. John Bako Shekwolo has been missing since 2019, kidnapped from the Archdiocese of Kaduna.