In a statement signed on Friday by its chairman, Dr. Omoniyi Akinsiju, the policy think tank identified the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) and Open Doors, a Christian charity, as organisations allegedly responsible for circulating false data that misrepresented Nigeria’s security situation.
IMPI said it was deeply concerned that some local and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were manipulating terrorism-related statistics to portray Nigeria as a country where Christians faced systemic persecution. The group described such claims as an “immoral and politically motivated campaign” aimed at influencing international perception.
“The circulation of falsehoods in the campaign to designate Nigeria a CPC jurisdiction has become a worrisome trend,” IMPI stated. “Our findings show that it has been exploited by both Nigerian and foreign-based NGOs, as well as other vested interests, to drive their agendas.”
The think tank cited examples, noting that Intersociety claimed 5,068 Christians were killed in Nigeria in 2022, while Open Doors’ World Watch List reported 5,014 Christian deaths that same year — figures IMPI described as grossly exaggerated and inconsistent with credible global data. It pointed out that the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) reported only 392 terrorism-related deaths in Nigeria in 2022, the lowest since 2011.
According to IMPI, the pattern of inflated statistics continued in later years, with some organisations alleging that over 8,000 Christians were killed between 2023 and 2024, even though the GTI recorded just 565 terrorism-related deaths in 2024. The group maintained that such distortions were part of a broader agenda to manipulate U.S. policy towards Nigeria.
IMPI’s research further revealed that since 2019, Intersociety had been releasing inconsistent reports on alleged “Christian deaths” that did not align with GTI and other credible global sources. It observed that in 2019, while GTI recorded a 39 percent decrease in terrorism deaths — from 2,043 in 2018 to 1,245 — Intersociety still attributed up to 1,200 of those deaths to Christians alone.
Describing Trump’s 2020 decision to place Nigeria on the CPC list as “questionable,” IMPI argued that available data at the time reflected a steady decline in religiously motivated killings. The group called for more accurate and direct government-to-government engagement between Nigeria and the United States to correct the misrepresentations and ensure Nigeria’s removal from the CPC list.
