Fulani herdsmen in Benue state, Nigeria killed four Christians on Monday (Jan. 12) and nine others on Jan. 5-6, sources said.
In Otobi Akpa village, Otukpo County, Fulani herdsmen arrived at midnight on Monday and shot four Christians who had been asleep in their homes, said resident Franca Akipu, who said dozens of others remain missing.
“The attack was carried out by Fulani herdsmen,” she told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “They shot at people who were sleeping. The gunshots were so loud that my mum was in panic throughout the night. Please keep my community in your prayers.”
Akipu identified the slain Christians as Ochi Igbade, Eje Uzu, Alinko and Achibi.
Previously Fulanis had attacked the village on April 15, killing 13 Christians and burning down 50 houses, she said. Community leader Adikwu Ogbe said they were attacked at about 6 p.m. on that day.
“The armed herdsmen invaded our community, shooting sporadically at anyone they sighted,” Ogbe told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “And when they retreated, 13 of our Christian members had been killed, while 50 houses were destroyed.”
In two other counties in Benue state, herdsmen killed five Christian on Jan. 6 and four others on Jan. 5, residents said.
In Kwande County, Fulani herdsmen on Jan. 6 killed five Christians as they were working on their farms in Udeku Maav-Ya village at about 4 p.m.
“This incident is not the first in this area, as these Fulani herdsmen have been persistent in attacking our communities,” said Tersua Yarkwan, chairman of the Kwande Local Government Council.
Council member Akerigba Lawrence also noted that residents of the area’s predominantly Christian villages “have constantly faced sustained attacks and destruction of their homes and farms.”
In Ikyaghev village, Guma County, herdsmen on Jan. 5 killed four Christians, said Maurice Orwough, Guma Council Chairman.
“The farmers were working on their farms when the herdsmen attacked them around 10 a.m.,” Orwough told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “The four Christians are members of the same family.”
James Melvin Ejeh, Agatu Council chairman, said there have been “deliberate and systematic attacks against Christians in some our communities by herdsmen which have resulted in loss of lives and destruction of property.”
In Ukum County, armed herdsmen also on Thursday (Jan. 8) attacked farmers in predominantly Christian Adogo village, destroying crops, said resident Thomas Ikyase. Communiy leader Aule Gba added, “Farmers in my community were attacked by Fulani terrorists. They forced our people to flee from their homes.”
Herdsmen attacks also took place in December. In Okpokwu County, Fulani herdsmen on Dec. 30 attacked a funeral in Owewe village, said resident Isaac Audu. Sunday Oche, chairman of the Ado Local Government Council, noted that herdsmen also attacked the predominately Christian villages of Ijigban, Ulayi and Utonkon on Dec. 9.
“The herdsmen’s pattern of violence includes, attacking mourners, ambushing farmers, and inflicting machete cut wounds on Christian victims,” Oche said.
In an attack on predominantly Christian Mbamondo Ukembergya village in Logo County on Dec. 7, herdsmen killed four Christians, said resident Simon Chia.
“Fulani herdsmen are killing innocent Christians almost daily,” Chia said. “This is the situation we are facing in Logo Local Government Area of Benue 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.
