Fulani Herdsmen in Plateau State, Nigeria, murdered seven Christians.
After midnight on Wednesday (Nov. 29), a pastor and two other Christians were kidnapped in predominantly Christian Raddi village, Bassa County, a resident said in a text message.
The assailants attacked Puka and Dinter villages in Mangu County at about 1 a.m., said Yohanna Markus of Puka.
The assailants attacked Puka and Dinter villages in Mangu County at about 1 a.m., said Yohanna Markus of Puka.
After midnight on Wednesday (Nov. 29), a pastor and two other Christians were kidnapped in predominantly Christian Raddi village, Bassa County, a resident said in a text message.
The three Christians were rescued later that evening in neighboring Bauchi State in a police response to another kidnapping attempt in Toro County, the local press reported.
On Nov. 15 in Bokkos County, they killed a Christian in Hilltop, a suburb of Bokkos town, said resident Timothy Joseph.
“At about 7 p.m., Fulani herdsmen attacked the Hilltop area of Bokkos and killed one Christian,” Joseph said in a text message. “One other Christian was injured during the incident.”
Nigeria led the world in Christians killed for their faith in 2022, with 5,014, according to Open Doors’ 2023 World Watch List (WWL) report. It also led the world in Christians being abducted (4,726), sexually assaulted or harassed, forcibly married, or physically or mentally abused, and it had the most homes and businesses attacked for faith-based reasons. As in the previous year, Nigeria had the second most church attacks and internally displaced people.
In the 2023 World Watch List of the countries where it is challenging to be a Christian, Nigeria jumped to sixth place, its highest ranking ever, from No. 7 the previous year.
“Militants from the Fulani, Boko Haram, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), and others conduct raids on Christian communities, killing, maiming, raping, and kidnapping for ransom or sexual slavery,” the WWL report noted. “This year has also seen this violence spill over into the Christian-majority south of the nation… Nigeria’s government continues to deny this is religious persecution, so violations of Christians’ rights are carried out with impunity.”
Numbering in the millions across Nigeria and the Sahel, predominantly Muslim Fulani comprise hundreds of clans of many lineages who do not hold extremist views. Still, some Fulani adhere to radical Islamist ideology, as 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 stated that they think the motive behind herders’ attacks on Christian communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt is their desire to extort Christians’ lands and impose slam because desertification has made it difficult for them to maintain their herds.
