This dataset contains includes measurements of trees and lianas stem diameters and status (e.g. alive, dead), and lightning strike data for forest areas within the Ngel Nyaki Forest, collected between June 2018 and July 2021. We investigated tree mortality driven by lightning strikes in a 40-ha area at the Ngel Nyaki Forest Dynamic Plot, located in south-eastern Nigeria. Ngel Nyaki is a submontane forest with an elevation range of 1,588–1,690m and is part of the Smithsonian's Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO) network. In every census, we measured and tagged all trees and lianas that have a stem diameter at 1.3 m (or above buttresses) of ≥25 cm and notes were taken about the tree's living status (e.g., broken, hollow) or the trees death mode (e.g., uprooted, standing).