Since the spring of 2025, numerous Nigerian Christians have once again been murdered in attacks by radical Islamic Fulani herdsmen nomad gangs.

At the end of May, 42 people each fell victim to attacks on Christian settlements in the states of Benue and Taraba. On 1 June, another 43 people were killed in further attacks in Benue state. At the beginning of April, there were already attacks by gangs of herdsmen in the state of Plateau, who murdered more than 60 Christians. In a massacre on 13 April 2025, a further 56 Christian Nigerians were killed in the village of Zikke (also in Plateau state). Eyewitnesses reported that state security forces either arrived very late at the scenes of the attacks or not at all.

Christian representatives in particular called on the US government to put Nigeria back on the list of countries ‘of particular concern’, from which the previous administration had removed the West African country.

Human rights organizations consider the recent calls by Nigerian President Bola Tinubu for the security forces to clarify the background to the massacres to lack credibility as long as Christians are exposed to attacks in such large numbers and are not effectively protected against them.

Michaela Koller
ISHR Religious Freedom Expert