REPORT: Scores of Christian worshippers killed by armed herdsmen in Enugu State

Scores of Christian worshippers have reportedly been killed by armed herdsmen in Eha-Amufu communities in the Isi-Uzo Local Government Area of Enugu State, with 31 lives lost between January and June 2025 alone.

This figure comes from data released by Anglican Church authorities, detailing the churches attacked and casualties in each incident.

A new report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) also stated that armed herdsmen devastated 14 Anglican and Catholic parishes across Eha-Amufu between May 2021 and June 2025, leaving 117 worshippers dead, destroying hundreds of homes and farmlands, and displacing entire communities.

In its report, Intersociety described the killings as “systematic and faith-targeted,” alleging that jihadist militants had infiltrated and occupied no fewer than 950 forest locations across the South-East, including 56 in Enugu State alone.

The Intersociety chairman, Emeka Umeagbalasi, said the atrocities were being downplayed by political leaders in the region.

He added that while governors across the region—Peter Mbah of Enugu State, Charles Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State, Hope Uzodinma of Imo State, Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State, and Alex Otti of Abia State—have publicly denied the presence of armed herdsmen, “the evidence on the ground suggests otherwise.”

Intersociety’s data detailed 14 separate church attacks in Eha-Amufu, affecting both Anglican and Catholic parishes.

According to the report: In May 2021, the Holy Anglican Church in Okpokwu, Mgbuji, was invaded, leaving 25 worshippers dead. In January 2022, a series of coordinated assaults affected seven parishes, including St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Ogbete, where 40 members were massacred.

Subsequent incidents included an attack on St. Barnabas Anglican Church, Ngele-Aguiyi, killing four people; St. Michael’s and All Angels’ Catholic Church, Okpurigwu, killing two; and the Anglican Church, Obodoudo, Aguamede, killing five.

Other attacks were recorded at All Saints Anglican Church, Onitsha-Ebia, in March 2024, killing one person; Christ Anglican Church, Amaofia, in May 2024, killing four; Victory Anglican Church, Iyi-Asaa, in June 2025, killing two; Our Saviour Anglican Church, Iyi-Asaa, in June 2025, killing nine; and St. Paul’s Catholic Church, Ikpakpara, in June 2025, killing 20.

The report noted that the attacks forced the closure of at least eight out of nine parishes under the local episcopal authority, while thousands of displaced residents now live as refugees in neighbouring communities.

A senior Anglican priest in Eha-Amufu told Intersociety researchers that he and local volunteers buried eight decomposing bodies of parishioners within a single day after a January 2022 attack.

“Many were abducted into nearby forests and slaughtered. We retrieved their bodies days later. Soldiers only came after the attack to help pick corpses, but never when the killing was happening,” the unnamed priest said.

Other residents claimed that a helicopter allegedly “linked to the attackers” was sighted hovering over the area before major assaults, dropping suspicious objects believed to be weapons.

The report accused soldiers of the 82 Division, Nigerian Army, Enugu, of failing to respond to distress calls during attacks, assisting only afterward to retrieve corpses.

Intersociety also alleged that local youths who helped gather evidence and rescue victims were later arrested and detained by operatives allegedly sent by the Enugu State government. Some detainees, interviewed anonymously, said they were tortured and falsely accused of involvement in “unknown gunmen” activities before being released and warned not to speak to the media.
Beyond the church casualties, the report said hundreds of civilians had also been killed in Eha-Amufu, with a particularly bloody December 2023 attack in the Abor community claiming over 20 lives. Entire markets, including Orie Aguamede Market, and hundreds of homes were burned down. Vast stretches of farmland were abandoned, and many villages reduced to ghost towns.

The report also cited an incident on November 7, 2025, near Nkwo-Ezeagu Market Square, where a convoy of security agents reportedly repelled an attempted abduction of passengers by suspected herdsmen along the Onitsha-Awka-Enugu Expressway. Eyewitnesses said the assailants emerged from the bush, opened fire on two commercial buses, and fled after a brief gunfight with a DSS and Special Police escort team.

Intersociety called for an international investigation into the killings and the alleged suppression of information by state authorities.

The organisation also welcomed the recent resignation of BBC Director-General Tim Davie and News CEO Deborah Turness over bias allegations, calling for a total overhaul of BBC Africa and its Global Disinformation Unit, which it accused of downplaying atrocities against Christians in Nigeria.

“We call for the dismantling and total reorganisation of BBC-Africa to ensure fair global reporting of the killings of Christians,” Intersociety said.

Eha-Amufu has been a flashpoint in the years-long crisis between rural farming communities and armed herders. Between 2021 and 2025, at least 300 people were killed in repeated invasions across Mgbuji, Abor, and Aguamede, despite military presence in the region.
Security experts and local activists have repeatedly called for a comprehensive counterterrorism response, saying the attacks bear the hallmarks of religiously motivated violence that has spread from Nigeria’s Middle Belt into the South-East.
The report noted that, so far, no suspects have been arrested or prosecuted in connection with the Eha-Amufu massacres.