The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) has responded to inquiries from the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, Disinformation Unit, clarifying the sources and methodology behind its statistics on alleged religious genocide in Nigeria.
According to Intersociety chairman, Emeka Umeagbalasi, the organisation’s findings were drawn from a range of credible reports, including a legal brief authored by Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN.
Amupitan was recently appointed Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
The development comes after BBC had reportedly accused the group of fabricating and exaggerating figures to push a false narrative of “Christian genocide” in Nigeria.
DAILY POST reported that US President Donald Trump had earlier designated Nigeria as a country of particular concern, further threatening military action against Nigeria.
The US President cited what he described as ongoing violence against Christians and failure of the government to protect religious minorities.
However, the Nigerian government strongly denied persecution of any religious groups in Nigeria.
In a statement on Thursday, Intersociety explained that its data covered incidents dating back to 2009, coinciding with the onset of the Boko Haram insurgency, which led to the destruction and closure of numerous churches in the North-East, the epicentre of the violence.
Umeagbalasi said Amupitan prepared the legal opinion for a major international report titled “Genocide in Nigeria: The Implications for the International Community,” which forms part of the 312-page “Religious Freedom in the World 2025” report released by Aid to the Church in Need at the Vatican on October 21, 2025.
“The legal opinion section of the report referenced the destruction or closure of over 13,000 churches, a figure originally cited in Anna Mulder’s Open Doors Report (2015) covering the Boko Haram insurgency from July 2009 to December 2014,” Intersociety said.
It added that Amupitan also drew from the work of Ewelina Ochab, a noted researcher and advocate against the persecution of Christians in Nigeria.
The rights group further urged the BBC to question the Nigerian government over its own data, citing figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, in December 2024, which claimed that 614,373 Nigerians died from insecurity between May 2023 and April 2024.
Intersociety maintained that its figures were based on both primary and secondary sources, including eyewitness accounts, reports from local and international media, victim communities, research organisations, declassified state documents, and diplomatic sources.
𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁𝘀𝗔𝗽𝗽 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹 𝗧𝗼 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗟𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗔𝘀 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗗𝗿𝗼𝗽!
