Intersociety: New York Times Riddled Umeagbalasi’s Interview with Falsehood
• Says news outfit to be held responsible if harm befalls Umeagbalasi, family
David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka
The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) has accused US based newspaper, The New York Times and its West Africa Bureau Chief, Ruth Maclean, of misrepresentation and false attribution in an interview conducted with its boss in December 2025.
In a statement dated January 19, 2026, Intersociety, a human rights group based in Onitsha said claims attributed to it in the now trending report were never made during a more than three-hour interview held in his home in Onitsha, Anambra State.
The rights group said the interview focused on what it described as systematic attacks on Christians and churches in Nigeria, pointing out most of the areas where it said the newspaper and it’s West Africa Bureau Chief, MaClean lied against it.
The group alleged that the newspaper framed its founder and board of trustee chairman’s comments, Criminologist Emeka Umeagbalasi in a manner that linked them to U.S. airstrikes in Sokoto State that occurred nine days after the interview.
The statement read in part: “We are shocked and totally disappointed by the perfidy of lies told against us in the said publication, life-threatening risks to our leadership.
“We are placing The New York Times and Maclean on notice and would hold them “vicariously liable” should any harm come to our leader, his family, or our offices in Onitsha, Enugu and Aguata.”
The organisation rejected claims attributed to it that its founder referred to Fulanis as animals, nor did he recommend that they be confined to one state, which the newspaper referred to as ethnic cleansing.
It also rejected claims that its data on killings in Nigeria were unverified or largely dependent on secondary sources.
“Umeagbalasi had explained a data-gathering methodology combining field investigations with corroborated third-party reports, consistent with international human rights documentation standards.
“At no point did our Board Chair say he does not verify data,” the statement said. It added that Intersociety researchers had conducted fieldwork in areas including Southern Kaduna, Taraba, the South-East and South-South regions, as well as Eha-Amufu and Ezeagu in Enugu State.
Intersociety also denied any links to U.S. partisan politics, stating that its documentation of killings since 2009 – estimated at about 125,000 Christians and 60,000 Muslims – was based strictly on religious freedom monitoring frameworks recognised by the United Nations and the African Union.
“Our reports have nothing to do with Republicans, Democrats or American domestic politics,” the organisation said, adding that religious freedom protections apply equally to Christians and Muslims.
The group speaking on allegation that its leader described Fulani people as “animals,” which it categorically denied, said its actual position related to policy proposals on cattle ranching, including concentrating such projects in Niger State if government intentions were genuinely economic.
Intersociety also challenged the handling of Boko Haram casualty figures in the report, arguing that data from 2009 to 2017 showed Christians constituted a significant proportion of the victims.
It cited figures from the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria indicating that thousands of its members were killed and hundreds of church districts destroyed between 2014 and 2020.
On the abduction of schoolgirls in Kebbi State, the organisation said it was misquoted as claiming that “many” of the victims were Christians, clarifying that it had only raised concerns that Christian students may have been among those abducted.
The organisation said it stood by its estimate that about 19,100 churches had been attacked, burned or destroyed in Nigeria since 2009, rejecting suggestions that the figure was exaggerated.
“People are free to agree or disagree with our findings, but putting false words into our mouths and framing us in ways that expose us to danger is unacceptable” the statement by the group insisted.
