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In a grave and sobering Easter Monday message, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) has warned that Christianity in Nigeria and Igbo Land could face total extinction within 50 years, by the year 2075, unless urgent and concerted efforts are made to defend and preserve the faith.

Drawing deeply from history and current realities, Intersociety, led by its chairman, Emeka Umeagbalasi, and human rights lawyer Chinwe Umeche Esq., issued a clarion call to all Christians, warning of a “systematic, well-coordinated, heavily funded, untamed and uncontrollable” threat to the Christian Faith.

“The true concern and task before every true Christian in Nigeria and Igbo Land starting from today, Monday, April 21, 2025,” the group emphasized, “should be to do everything within his or her lawful physical, material, creative and spiritual powers to preserve, protect, uphold and expand the Christian Faith divinely founded by Our Lord Jesus Christ around AD 35, two years after his divine death and resurrection.”

Intersociety’s message, steeped in historical context, recalled the origins of the Christian Church, stating:

“It must be remembered that ‘The Church of Jesus Christ’ or the Mother Church was founded around AD 35, about two years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Saint Peter De Apostle later led early Christians to evangelize and convert the Pre-Christian Roman Empire from AD 35 into AD 70 during which he became the First Pope of the Mother Church or ‘The Catholic Church.’”

However, the organization warned that the survival of the Christian Faith is now under severe threat across Nigeria.

“Sadly and shockingly, today, the stark reality on the ground in Nigeria and Igbo Land is that Christianity; likewise Jewish and Traditional worshipping may vanish or be vanquished in the coming 50 Years or by Year 2075 and radically and violently replaced by Islamic Sultanates/Caliphates.”

Intersociety cited devastating figures to support its dire projections. Since the onset of the Boko Haram insurgency in July 2009, approximately 40 million indigenous Northern Christians have been displaced. The group noted:

“The estimated 40 million uprooted indigenous Northern Christians included those raped or hacked to death or abducted and converted to radical Islamism or abducted and permanently disappeared; during which thousands of communities and villages belonging to them were sacked, Islamically renamed and occupied.”

The message continued:

“Approximately 19,000 Churches and over 3,000 Christian schools and other sacred places of learning belonging to Christians in Nigeria have been sacked, wantonly destroyed or burnt beyond recognition.”

According to Intersociety, the situation has only worsened in 2025. Between January and April alone, between 1,500 and 2,000 defenseless Christians have been “hacked to death” in the Middle-Belt States of Benue, Plateau, and Southern Kaduna, with hundreds more abducted.

In addition to the humanitarian crisis in the North and Middle Belt, the group reported alarming statistics from the South-East:

“In the South-East Region of Nigeria, estimated 20,300 defenseless citizens are among those hacked to death or killed on the grounds of their ethnicity and religion by Jihadists and federally deployed grossly biased security forces since the middle of 2015.”

Intersociety accused Christian leaders and congregants of becoming dangerously complacent, warning against the “dry quest for mercantilism by Christian clergies” and the “incurable quest for the realization of vested or selfish interests” by the laity. They lamented:

“Deceitfully and cunningly using the Sacred name of Jesus Christ and Christendom as a cover or pretext and done at grave expense of the growth, development, expansion, security and safety of the Christian Faith.”

According to the message, the looming extinction of Christianity would not be limited to the Northern states:

“The Middle-Belt States of Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa, Kogi and Niger [are] the worst hit; to be followed by the North-West States of Kebbi, Kaduna, etc.; the North-East States of Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Taraba, Gombe and Bauchi; inclusive of the South-West States of Ondo, Ekiti, Ogun, Osun and Oyo and even Lagos; also to be followed catastrophically by the entire eleven States of the South-South and the South-East with over 95% Christian population.”

The group’s extensive research for the message was drawn from multiple local and international sources, including government and non-governmental organizations and institutions advocating for religious freedom.

A Solemn Easter Monday Reflection

Concluding their Easter Monday 2025 message, Intersociety extended warm greetings to all Christians while reaffirming their commitment to monitoring and documenting religious persecution across Nigeria:

“We have a track record of following patterns and trends of persecution of Christians in Nigeria or any part thereof including State persecution against other religious minorities such as Shiite Muslims and Members of the Organization of the African Instituted Churches (OAICs) in Nigeria or any part thereof.”

The warning issued this Easter Monday serves as a solemn reflection on the future of Christianity in Nigeria, placing the responsibility for its survival squarely on the shoulders of every true believer.

As Intersociety starkly put it:

“None of us Christians can go to Heaven or speak to Jesus Christ or the God Almighty other than through the instrumentality of the sacred Christian Faith.”

The next five decades may well determine whether that sacred instrumentality will survive for future generations.

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