Christian Solidarity International Launches Under Siege Campaign for Nigeria Christians

Christian Solidarity International (CSI) launched a three-month campaign called "Christians in Nigeria: Under Siege" on Thursday 5 November 2026, to draw attention to the suffering of Christian communities in Nigeria's Middle Belt. The launch came with a number that stops you cold: 4,216 Christians were killed in the first nine months of 2026 alone.

That is roughly 15 Christians killed every single day. A Christian is killed about every 90 minutes in the Middle Belt, according to CSI. Behind each of those numbers is a family, a church, and a village that will never be the same.

4,216 Killed in Nine Months: The Numbers Behind Under Siege

The campaign's figures come from CSI's own research, and they paint a picture of violence on a scale that is hard to take in. Between October 2019 and September 2025, 22,835 Christians were killed in Nigeria. The first nine months of 2026 added 4,216 more to that toll.

Then there is the displacement. Some 1.3 million familes have been driven from their homes. That is a million households, each one with children, grandparents, and a farm or a shop left behind. Many of them now live in camps, in the homes of relatives, or in towns where they arrived with nothing but the clothes they were wearing.

The Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA) adds another grim layer. It attributes 18,577 civilian deaths between October 2019 and September 2025 to armed Fulani groups. That is nearly four times the combined total blamed on Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).

The killers are not one group. Fulani ethnic militias, Boko Haram and ISWAP all target Christian communities, often in seperate places and in different ways. What they share is the result: churches emptied, villages burned, and families scattered across the Middle Belt.

CSI Saw the Killing Firsthand in June 2026

CSI is not reporting this from a distance. Its team visited the Middle Belt in June 2026, and during their two-week stay, at least 50 Christians were killed. The team met survivors, walked through burned villages, and listened to families who had lost everything.

That visit is the human spine of this campaign. The people CSI met in June are not numbers in a report. They are farmers who watched their neighbours die, mothers who buried their children, and pastors who held funerals for their own congregations.

CSI has been aiding Nigerian Christian victims since 2013. In 2020, it issued a Genocide Warning over the violence. On 17 September this year, it raised the alarm again at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The new campaign is the next step: three months of sustained pressure to make the world look at what is happening in the Middle Belt.

Nigeria: The Epicentre of Anti-Christian Violence

Nigeria is now the global epicentre of deadly violence against Christians, and the pattern keeps repeating. Gunmen killed a pastor and three others in a Benue market attack, as reported in Gunmen Kill Pastor and Three Others in Benue Market Attack November 2026, and Pastor Terungwa Tyonungo was killed in another Benue market attack, as covered in Pastor Terungwa Tyonungo Killed in Benue Market Attack. Seven Christian mourners were kidnapped in Benue as a $23,000 ransom was demanded, as reported in Latest: Seven Christian Mourners Kidnapped in Benue as $23000 Ransom Demanded, and two Christians were killed and 18 seized in a Kaduna raid, as covered in Two Christians Killed, 18 Seized in Kaduna Raid.

Each of those stories is a single day in the Middle Belt. Put them together, and the campaign's numbers start to make terrible sense. The violence is not one attack, or ten attacks. It is a drumbeat, week after week, and the families living through it have been asking for years why the world is not listening.

A Mississippi church baptized 59 after a revival reached a college campus in Mississippi Church Baptizes 59 After August Revival Reaches College Campus, while a doctor turned evangelist baptized 3,000 in one year in Doctor Turned Evangelist's Tent Revival Baptizes 3,000 in One Year. More than 200 people dedicated their lives to God at a revival in South Africa in More Than 200 People Dedicate Lives to God at Zion Centre Revival in Dan Tloome South Africa, and 550 people were baptized in the North Sea at Bridlington in UK Revival 2026: 550 People Baptized in the North Sea at Bridlington. Franklin Graham saw pockets of revival after 800 turned to Christ in Manchester in Franklin Graham Sees Pockets of Revival After 800 Turn to Christ in Manchester. Dunsin Oyekan is planning a permanent home for Upper Room, as reported in Dunsin Oyekan Plans Permanent Home for Upper Room, and Kirk Franklin has just released his first double album, Latest: Kirk Franklin Releases First Double Album I Am What I Am With Davido, GloRilla and Jelly Roll. Lilian Nneji released her first official album after almost 30 years in gospel music in Lilian Nneji Releases Highly Favoured After 30 Years.

CSI's campaign runs for three months, and its organisers hope it will do what years of reports have not: force governments and churches around the world to act. The families of the Middle Belt have waited long enough. Every 90 minutes, the clock ticks again, and another Christian is killed. The question now is whether the world will still be watching when the three months are over, or whether the siege will simply go on in silence.

But the most surprising part of this story is yet to come — keep reading.