Over 60 Christians killed by radicalized Fulani in Nigeria

Fulani terrorists on April 2 and 3 killed more than 60 Christians in Plateau state, Nigeria, in what the governor called a “genocide,” sources said.

The attacks were carried out against seven Christian communities in Bokkos County, including Hurti village, where more than 40 Christians were slain, said community leader Maren Aradong.

“More than 1,000 Christians were displaced [in Hurti] during the attacks, and 383 houses were destroyed by these bandits,” Aradong told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “These attacks began on Wednesday, 2 April, at about 3 p.m., when these armed Muslim Fulani herdsmen invaded our communities in large numbers; they came on motorcycles and attacked us.”

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The assailants destroyed food stores and looted other items, he added.

Farmasum Fuddang, chairman of the Bokkos Community Development Council (BCDC), said initially 21 Christians were killed on April 2, but by the next day, 40 more Christians were slaughtered, bringing the death toll to “more than 60 Christians killed during the two days of onslaught against our communities.”

“These attacks were carried out by Fulani terrorists who targeted Christian communities of Ruwi, Mangor, Tamiso, Daffo, Manguna, Hurti, and Tadai,” Fuddang said.

An attack in Ruwi village on Wednesday resulted in the deaths of 11 Christians attending a wake for a deceased community member, he said, and by the following morning, 10 other Christians were killed in the village.

Plateau Gov. Caleb Mutfwang told Arise News on Monday that the attacks in Bokkos constituted genocide.

“I would say it unapologetically, what happened in the last two weeks in Bokkos is genocide — I say it unreservedly,” Mutfwang said in a televised interview. “No one has given me any reason to believe that what happened was politically motivated, and if there is any such suggestion, I’ll be glad to receive the evidence of such, because these were unprovoked attacks on innocent people, vulnerable people.”

Over the years such attacks have come during the onset of the farming season, followed by a respite while Christian farmers cultivate what little remains, and then attacks resume at harvest time, he said.

“So, it suggests to us that this is a well-coordinated plan to keep the people in those areas in perpetual poverty,” Mutfwang said. “It is possible that there could have been tensions in the past between communities, but I’ve challenged anyone to tell me who the feuding communities are. If we knew any community feuding with another community, we’ll be able to step in and bring in a reconciliation process. But at the moment you are dealing with attackers that are faceless, and so you just leave it to the fact that this is ill-motivated and is aimed at driving the people out of their lands.”

Predominantly Christian farmers are driven from their lands for three to five years of occupation by predominantly Muslim Fulanis, suggesting the attacks are motivated by desire to seize lands, he said.

“I’ve had people dispute that land-grabbing is the motive, but we are yet to find evidence to the contrary,” Mutfwang said. “These communities have lived in peace with other ethnic nationalities, with other people of religious persuasions. The interesting thing you will know on the Plateau is that many families are inter-religious, and so religion is not so much the issue. I think that here we are dealing with some powerful forces who mobilize these faceless people and come and unleash it on these natives. And at the end of the day, the natives are left defenseless because they never envisaged that this kind of attack will happen.”

He condemned the attacks as “unprovoked.”

Maj. Samson Zakhom, military spokesman for soldiers drafted to Bokkos, confirmed in a statement that villages attacked included Tamiso, Daffo, Manguna, Tadai and Hurti. He added that soldiers repelled the assailants and that ongoing military operations aimed at tracking down the assailants.

“On April 3, further clearance operations were carried out at Hurti, where troops encountered and engaged militants hiding in the mountainous region,” Zakhom said. “The ensuing confrontation resulted in the recovery of a locally fabricated pistol, six rounds of 9 mm ammunition and four motorcycles. The troops are continuing efforts to neutralize the remaining militants still at large in the area.”

Amnesty International on Friday called on the Nigerian government to stem killings in Plateau state and demanded justice for victims, calling attacks “a pattern of mass killings and government inaction” in central Nigeria.

The statement from Amnesty International noted that the villages of Ruwi, Mangor, Daffo, Manguna, Hurti and Tadai have been repeatedly attacked.

“Apart from killing people, the attackers are also razing entire villages, deliberately destroying homes and farms,” Amnesty stated. “Investigations carried out by us have showed that at least 1,336 people were killed between December 2023 and February 2024 across Plateau state, with Mangu, Bokkos and Barkin-Ladi Local Government Areas being the worst affected.”

Residents continue to express deep frustration with the response of security forces, alleging that they are either absent during attacks or show up too late to prevent bloodshed, the group reported.

“Most villagers repeatedly told Amnesty International that the government left them at the mercy of their attackers,” it stated. “They complained of receiving little or no help from security officials during attacks, despite informing them prior or calling for help during the incidents. The fact that no perpetrators have been brought to justice leaves rural communities of Plateau state feeling completely helpless and at the mercy of ruthless gunmen.”

The Rev. Tongsmangs Dasbak, a Christian leader in Plateau state, said the attacks have deeply affected the areas.

“The ongoing security crisis in Plateau state, particularly in Mangu and Bokkos Local Government Areas, has reached alarming levels,” Dasbak said in a statement to Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “The persistent attacks by marauding Fulani herdsmen have led to significant loss of lives, destruction of property, and displacement of communities. Despite the concerted efforts by the state government to restore peace, the situation remains dire, necessitating urgent federal intervention.” 

Mangu and Bokkos counties have suffered high numbers of casualties, with hundreds of people losing their lives and many more sustaining life-threatening injuries, he said. 

“The indiscriminate killings often target defenseless civilians, including women, children and the elderly,” Dasbak said. “Entire families have been wiped out in midnight raids, leaving behind a trail of sorrow and despair. This loss of human life is not just a statistic but a profound tragedy that has disrupted the social fabric of the region.”

Homes, schools, church buildings and markets have been razed to the ground as communities that took years to build have been reduced to ashes within hours, he said. Many survivors who managed to escape the violence now live in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps, unable to return to their homes.

“The destruction of infrastructure further exacerbates the crisis, as essential services such as healthcare, education and transportation are severely disrupted,” he said. “Without proper security measures, these attacks continue to escalate, leaving behind a wasteland of desolation.”

Military intervention is required to dismantle the networks of the armed herdsmen and restore peace, he said, adding that intelligence-based operations, coupled with the deployment of well-equipped security personnel, can help neutralize the violence.

“Romans 13:4 states, ‘For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer,’” Dasbak said. “The federal government must exercise its authority to bring justice to the oppressed and end the reign of terror in Plateau state.”

Numbering in the millions across Nigeria and the Sahel, predominantly Muslim Fulani comprise hundreds of clans of many different lineages who do not hold extremist views, but some Fulani do adhere to radical Islamist ideology, the United Kingdom’s All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom or Belief (APPG) noted in a 2020 report.

“They adopt a comparable strategy to Boko Haram and ISWAP and demonstrate a clear intent to target Christians and potent symbols of Christian identity,” the APPG report states.

Christian leaders in Nigeria have said they believe herdsmen attacks on Christian communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt are inspired by their desire to forcefully take over Christians’ lands and impose Islam, as desertification has made it difficult for them to sustain their herds.

Nigeria remained among the most dangerous places on earth for Christians, according to Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian. Of the 4,476 Christians killed for their faith worldwide during the reporting period, 3,100 (69 percent) were in Nigeria, according to the WWL.

“The measure of anti-Christian violence in the country is already at the maximum possible under World Watch List methodology,” the report stated.

In the country’s North-Central zone, where Christians are more common than they are in the North-East and North-West, Islamic extremist Fulani militia attack farming communities, killing many hundreds, Christians above all, according to the report. Jihadist groups such as Boko Haram and the splinter group Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), among others, are also active in the country’s northern states, where federal government control is scant and Christians and their communities continue to be the targets of raids, sexual violence, and roadblock killings, according to the report. Abductions for ransom have increased considerably in recent years.

The violence has spread to southern states, and a new jihadist terror group, Lakurawa, has emerged in the northwest, armed with advanced weaponry and a radical Islamist agenda, the WWL noted. Lakurawa is affiliated with the expansionist Al-Qaeda insurgency Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin, or JNIM, originating in Mali.

Nigeria ranked seventh on the 2025 WWL list of the 50 worst countries for Christians.

This article was originally published by Christian Daily International–Morning Star News.