Fulani herdsmen on Aug. 24 attacked a predominantly Christian village in Kaduna state, Nigeria, killing seven people, including a 1-year-old infant, residents said.
In Angwan Rimi village in Kauru County, five of the seven Christian slain by “Fulani marauders” were children, said resident Iliya Tata.
“Seven Christians have been killed, while eight others sustained gunshot injuries and matchet cuts,” Tata told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News, identifying those killed as Jacob Zaka, 12; Magret Mathias, 5; Delight Paul, 1; Sati Markus, 9; Confidence Yakubu, 15; Veronica Paul, 25; and Felicia Francis, 30.
Wounded were Mathew Sunday, 14; Jethro Istafanus, 7; Jackson Istafanus, 5; Emmanuel Morris, 14; Agatha Sylvester, 9; Joy Markus, 9; Devine Paul, 6 months; and Mary Ishaya, 12, he said.
Emmanuel John Bako, a leader of the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU), in a public statement called for “stronger security intervention towards to safeguarding lives and property in our communities.”
Pastor Kidnapped
In central Nigeria’s Kwara state, unknown assailants on Aug. 28 kidnapped a pastor of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) in the Ekati area of Patigi, Patigi County, sources said.
ECWA member Gana Sunday Kajita urged prayer for the Rev. James Audu Issa, abducted from his pastorium at ECWA Church Ekati.
“Lord, you are the keeper of life, the shield of the helpless, and the deliverer of the oppressed,” Kajita said. “Father, protect him in the hands of his abductors. Surround him with your angels, frustrate every evil plot, and open the way for his safe and speedy return home.”
Kajita also prayed for the pastor's immediate family and the local community, as well as the captors.
“O Lord of mercy, touch the hearts of his captors, and let your light overcome this darkness,” he said. “We believe in your promise that those who trust in you will never be put to shame. We declare his safe release, his restoration to his family and church, and your glory revealed through this situation.”
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.
Police Kill Evangelist
In southern Nigeria’s Cross Rivers state, a street evangelist who tried to bring the gospel to the state governor was shot dead by security officers in Calabar, relatives said, though the killing in the overwhelmingly Christian state did not appear to be religiously motivated.
Moses Mba, 22, was shot on Aug. 1 and died on Aug. 9 after a security guard reportedly denied him entry to the former residence of the Gov. Bassey Out, who was not at the site at the time.
Mba’s mother, Victoria Mba, in a statement to media on Sept. 6 said her son had gone to the private residence to preach to the governor and was arrested, beaten and then shot dead by five police officers working at the residence.
“My son was denied entry and treated as a threat,” she said. “They (police officers) beat him and later shot him. He was left bleeding on the ground from about 11 a.m. till late afternoon.”
Linus Obogo, chief press secretary to the governor, said police have been directed to investigate.
“As far as we know, the police officer involved is being held,” Obogo said. “This is a purely police matter, and they are handling it.”
The state Commissioner for Information, Erasmus Ekpang, reportedly said Moses Mba had mental challenges and had thrown stones at a police officer at the residence. Ekpang said there was only one security officer at the governor’s former residence when the evangelist approached.
