A six-year investigation by the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa has revealed that 79,323 people lost their lives in terrorism-related violence across Nigeria between 2020 and 2025, while 34,773 civilians were abducted during the same period.
The findings are contained in a report titled “Four Times Boko Haram? How the World Misreads Nigeria’s Violence,” unveiled in Jos and confirmed in a statement by the organisation’s Senior Research Analyst, Frans Vierhout.
According to the report, the violence averaged seven attacks and 36 deaths daily over the six-year period.
“A total of 79,323 people were killed in Nigeria between 2020 and 2025, with more than 42,000 of the victims being civilians,” the report stated.
The organisation said the study was based on years of cross-checking attack patterns and was aimed at providing evidence-based research to inform policy and advocacy on insecurity and religious freedom.
The report showed that 42,033 civilians were killed, while security personnel and members of armed groups accounted for the remaining 37,290 deaths.
It also challenged the widely held view that Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province are the leading perpetrators of violence in Nigeria.
According to the findings, Boko Haram and ISWAP were responsible for 12 per cent of civilian killings, while armed groups identified in the report as “Fulani Terror Groups” accounted for 44 per cent, representing 18,577 civilian deaths.
The organisation stressed that it distinguishes between violent armed groups and the broader Fulani ethnic population.
“ORFA is careful to distinguish between armed Fulani terror groups and the Fulani people as a whole, the vast majority of whom are not involved in violence,” the report stated.
Speaking on the findings, Vierhout said the evidence pointed to a consistent pattern.
“The data makes this very difficult to ignore. We examined how killings occur, who the victims are, where attacks take place and the seasonal patterns of violence. The evidence points strongly in one direction,” he said.
He added, “Violence linked to Fulani militias is the dominant force behind Nigeria’s death toll. The Western preoccupation with Boko Haram is, at best, misleading. Nigeria is incubating a terror network which the outside world has yet to acknowledge.”
The report further documented 34,773 civilian abductions during the review period, attributing 43 per cent of the cases to the armed groups it classified as “Fulani Terror Groups” and 49 per cent to unidentified armed groups.
It also highlighted what it described as a religious dimension to the violence, stating that 28,551 Christians and 13,224 Muslims were killed between 2020 and 2025.
According to the report, Christians in affected states were killed at a significantly higher rate than Muslims when adjusted for population figures.
The study further claimed that Christian hostages generally faced harsher treatment, including higher ransom demands, prolonged captivity and greater risk of execution, while Muslim captives were more likely to experience lower ransom demands and less violence.
ORFA’s Senior Research Analyst, Steven Kefas, said survivor testimonies revealed a recurring pattern.
“The field research reveals that a lesser value is assigned to a Christian life. From the moment of capture, Muslim and Christian hostages enter different realities. It is not about individual captors. It is a system that is consistent across multiple states, armed groups and years of survivor testimony,” he said.
The report also found that about 75 per cent of civilian deaths occurred during attacks on communities, many involving raids on farming settlements, destruction of property, abductions and sexual violence.
ORFA said its database was compiled using information from field investigations, local partners, academic institutions, media reports, non-governmental organisations and verified social media sources.
The organisation called for a broader understanding of Nigeria’s security crisis, arguing that efforts to address the violence would remain incomplete without recognising its religious dimensions.
