Fulani herdsmen and other “bandit” terrorists often allied with them killed more civilians in Nigeria over a four-year period than Islamic extremist groups Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a new report states.
“Other Terrorist Groups,” commonly called “Fulani bandits,” killed 12,039 civilians from October 2019 to September 2023, while “Armed Fulani Herdsmen” killed 11,948 civilians, according to the Aug. 29 report by the Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA).
The better-known Boko Haram and ISWAP combined killed just 3,079 civilians, the ORFA report stated.
The Fulani herdsmen form part of the Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM), and it is believed that part of the “Other Terrorist Groups” known as “Fulani bandits” are connected to the FEM, according to the report.
“It implies that FEM is a much bigger factor in the Nigerian culture of violence than Boko Haram and ISWAP,” the ORFA report stated.
Most of the victims were Christians, according to the report.
“The data shows that more Nigerian Christians were victims of violence than Nigerians holding to other religious affiliations,” it stated. “Amongst the 30,880 civilians killed in the four-year reporting period, the number of Christians killed was 16,769, while the number of Muslims killed was 6,235.”
Of 21,532 civilians abducted, 11,185 were Christians, while the number of Muslims abducted was 7,899, the report stated. Members of African Traditional Religions (ATRs) killed numbered 154, and 184 were kidnapped, while the religions of 7,722 civilians killed and 2,264 abducted was unknown, according to ORFA.
Taking into account the relative sizes of the Christian and Muslim populations within the states researched, the ratio of Christians to Muslims killed was 6.5 to 1, and the ratio of Christians to Muslims abducted at 5.1 to 1, according to the report.
“The ratio of Christians to Muslims killed rises significantly when the religious composition of the states is taken into consideration” in comparison with the overall numbers, which show a ratio of Christians to Muslims killed at 2.7 to 1, and the ratio of Christians to Muslims abducted at 1.4 to 1, the report stated.
In the total of civilians and security personnel, 55,910 people were killed in 9,970 attacks, while 21,621 people were abducted in 2,705 attacks, with some overlap. ORFA documented 11,610 attacks in which people were killed and/or abducted, and of these, 8,905 involved killings without abductions; 1,065 involved both killings and abductions; and 1,640 involved abductions without killings.
“This is an average of eight attacks per day involving killings and/or abductions over a four-year period,” the report stated. “These numbers include attacks with civilians, Security Forces and/or Terror Groups killed and abducted.”
Muslims were killed by the same groups that killed Christians, although with different percentages: 55 percent of the Christians slain were killed by Armed Fulani Herdsmen (9,153) and 29 percent by Other Terrorist Groups (4,895). Boko Haram and ISWAP combined accounted for just 8 percent of the Christians killed (1,268), the report states.
For Muslims, it was the reverse: 24 percent of the Muslims slain were killed by Armed Fulani Herdsmen (1,473), and 53 percent by Other Terrorist Groups (3,334). Boko Haram and ISWAP combined accounted for just 12 percent of the Muslims killed (770).
The main area for Armed Fulani Herdsmen attacks was in 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, according to the report. 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 with 6,325.
For Christians, these numbers were 5,931 and 3,277; for Muslims they were 4,976 and 2,469, the ORFA Report stated.
“The same aggressors that were responsible for most of the killings were by far the most important actors in the Nigerian abduction industry as well,” the report stated. “Most civilians were abducted by Other Terrorist Groups (13,728) and Armed Fulani Herdsmen (6,380). Boko Haram and ISWAP combined abducted 1,023 civilians. The data warns against national and international attention being focused mainly on Boko Haram and ISWAP, with FEM activity being largely passed over.”
Muslims were abducted by the same groups that abducted Christians, but with different percentages. Of Christians, 60 percent were abducted by Other Terrorist Groups (6,675) and 35 percent by Armed Fulani Herdsmen (3,914). Boko Haram and ISWAP combined were responsible for just 4 percent of abductions of Christians (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 aim of the Fulani herdsmen and other jihadists is 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 told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News in his office in Jos. “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.
“Since 2015, there have been consistent reports of disparate treatment meted out to Christian and Muslim captives by members of Terror Groups,” the report stated. “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 Oct. 1, 2022 to Sept. 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 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 difficult to be a Christian, Nigeria was ranked No. 6, as it was 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, 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.
