ABUJA, Nigeria According to a recent report, Fulani herdsmen and other “bandit” terrorists who frequently sided with them killed more civilians in Nigeria for four years than the Islamic extremist groups Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
The Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA) published a report on August 29 stating that between October 2019 and September 2023, “Other Terrorist Groups,” also known as “Fulani bandits,” killed 12,039 civilians while “Armed Fulani Herdsmen” killed 11,948 civilians.
The better-known Boko Haram and ISWAP combined killed just 3,079 civilians, the ORFA report stated.
The Fulani herdsmen comprise the Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM), and the report states that there is a possibility that the “Other Terrorist Groups” that go by the name “Fulani bandits” are affiliated with the FEM.
The ORFA report said, “It implies that FEM is a much bigger factor in the Nigerian culture of violence than Boko Haram and ISWAP.”
Most of the victims were Christians, according to the report.
“The data indicates that a higher number of Nigerian Christians experienced violence compared to Nigerians of other religious affiliations,” it reported.
“During the four-year reporting period, a total of 30,880 civilians were killed. Of these, 16,769 were Christians and 6,235 were Muslims. Additionally, 21,532 civilians were abducted, with 11,185 being Christians and 7,899 being Muslims, as stated in the report.”
ORFA reported that 154 people who practiced ATRs died, with 184 of them being reportedly kidnapped. It was unknown what religion 2,264 kidnapped individuals, and 7,722 civilian casualties practiced.
The report states that, when accounting for the relative sizes of the Christian and Muslim populations in the states under investigation, the ratio of Christians to Muslims killed was 6.5 to 1, and the ratio of Christians to Muslims abducted was 5.1 to 1.
The report claimed that “the ratio of Christians to Muslims killed rises significantly when the religious composition of the states is taken into consideration,” in contrast to the overall data, which shows a 2.7 to 1 ratio of Christians to Muslims killed and a 1.4 to 1 ratio of Christians to Muslims abducted.
Nine thousand nine hundred seventy attacks against civilians and security personnel resulted in the deaths of 55,910 people, while 2,705 attacks resulted in the kidnapping of 21,621 people, with some overlap. ORFA documented 11,610 attacks in which people were killed and abducted, and of these, 8,905 involved killings without abductions, 1,065 involved both massacres and kidnappings, and 1,640 involved abductions without killings.
“This is an average of eight attacks per day involving killings and abductions over four years,” the report stated.
“These numbers include attacks in which civilians, security forces, and terror groups were killed and abducted.”
The same groups that killed Christians also killed Muslims, though in different proportions: Armed Fulani Herdsmen (9,153) killed 55% of the victims who were Christians, while Other Terrorist Groups (4,895) killed 29%. Boko Haram and ISWAP combined accounted for just 8 percent of the Christians killed (1,268), the report states.
On the other hand, for Muslims, the breakdown was as follows:
- 24% of deaths (1,473) were attributable to armed Fulani herders.
- 53% of deaths (3,334) were attributable to various terrorist organizations.
- Only 12% (770) were directly attributable to Boko Haram or ISWAP.
According to the report, the main area for Armed Fulani Herdsmen attacks was Nigeria’s North Central Region, including the southern part of Kaduna State; for other terrorist groups, it was the North West, also crossing into North Central. The main area of operation for Boko Haram and ISWAP was in the North East.
“The epicenter of violent attacks was in the North West and North Central,” the report noted. “Most civilian killings took place in the North West (11,626) and North Central (8,789). The North East followed with 5,521 civilians killed.”
For Christians, these numbers were 5,250 killed in the North West, 6,081 in the North Central, and 2,595 in the North East; for Muslims, they were 3,678, 1,106, and 1,262, respectively.
In the four-year reporting period, the North West was the epicenter of abductions, followed by the North Central.
“The abduction phenomenon began slowly in the 2020 reporting period but then picked up speed in 2021 onwards,” the report stated. Most civilian abductions were in the North West at 12,042 and North Central at 6,325.
The ORFA Report stated that these numbers were 5,931 and 3,277 for Christians and 4,976 and 2,469 for Muslims.
“The report stated that the same aggressors responsible for most of the killings were also the most critical actors in the Nigerian abduction industry.
“Armed Fulani Herdsmen (6,380) and Other Terrorist Groups (13,728) were responsible for the majority of civilian abductions. Boko Haram and ISWAP combined abducted 1,023 civilians.
The data cautions against the predominant focus on Boko Haram and ISWAP at the expense of FEM activity at national and international levels.”
The same groups that abducted Christians also kidnapped a variety of Muslims.
Christians were the target of abductions in varying degrees: 60% by Other Terrorist Groups (6,675), 35% by Armed Fulani Herdsmen (3,914), and only 4% by Boko Haram and ISWAP combined (422).
For Muslims, it was comparable: 71 percent of the Muslims abducted were abducted by Other Terrorist Groups (5,635) and 24 percent by Armed Fulani Herdsmen (1,903), according to the report. Boko Haram and ISWAP combined were responsible for only 4 percent of the abductions of Muslims (300).
While the ORFA report highlighted economic motives for the attacks as herders seek to take over farmers’ lands for grazing, the Rev. Yusufu Turaki, formerly vice president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), said the Fulani herders and other jihadists aim to destroy Christianity and Christians, seize their lands, establish an Islamic state, and impose sharia (Islamic law).
“The most striking point is that the Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM) are killing Nigerian civilians unopposed,” Turaki said. “Mass killings, abductions and the torture of whole families go largely unchallenged as government forces pursue targets hundreds of miles away, according to the research findings.”
The Islamic aggressors appear to want to overthrow the Nigerian government, he said.
The ORFA report showed that people were most vulnerable at home. Most civilians were killed (25,312) or abducted (16,761) during attacks on their communities; other isolated attacks killed 5,568 civilians and resulted in the abductions of 4,771 people.
The Islamic extremists targeted Christians as well as moderate Muslims who did not adhere to their ideology.
According to the report, “there have been consistent reports of terror group members treating Christian and Muslim captives differently since 2015.” “Differences in treatment were observed based on reports from victims or their families relating to forced labor; sexual violence; ransom demands and release; execution risks; religious tests.”
Nigeria remained the deadliest place in the world to follow Christ, with 4,118 people killed for their faith from October 1, 2022, to September 30, 2023, according to Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List (WWL) report. More kidnappings of Christians than in any other country also took place in Nigeria, with 3,300.
Nigeria was also the third highest country in the number of attacks on churches and other Christian buildings, such as hospitals, schools, and cemeteries, with 750, according to the report.
In the 2024 WWL of the countries where it is most challenging to be a Christian, Nigeria was ranked No. 6, as in the previous year.
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. However, 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.
According to Christian leaders in Nigeria, attacks on Christian communities in the Middle Belt are taking place because they want to seize Christian lands and impose Islam. After all, desertification makes it more difficult for herders to maintain their herds.
