6-year study challenges violence narrative in Nigeria, finds Christians bore heavier toll

ABUJA, Nigeria — A new six-year study released by the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA) is challenging long-held assumptions about the drivers of violence in Nigeria and the religious identity of its victims, with Christians bearing the larger burden.

Released on June 30, the report, “Killings and Abductions in Nigeria (2020–2025),” analyzes violence recorded between October 2019 and September 2025, documenting 79,323 people killed and nearly 35,000 abducted in attacks linked to what ORFA describes as terror groups.

The report argues that armed groups it classifies as “Fulani Terror Groups” were responsible for far more civilian deaths than Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) during the period under review.

According to ORFA’s press release , the findings “overturn long-standing assumptions” about Nigeriaʼs violence by concluding that Boko Haram and ISWAP together accounted for only 12% of civilian killings during the six-year period, while armed groups categorized by the organization as “Fulani Terror Groups” accounted for 44%.

“The data makes this very difficult to ignore,” Frans Vierhout, senior research Analyst at ORFA, said.…