The Nigerian army has had some success subduing Islamist group Boko Haram, but Christians are still being killed in Nigeria. Many of the killings are carried out by nomadic Hausa-Fulani herdsmen, a largely Muslim ethnic group that frequently targets the more settled Christian farming communities of central Nigeria. Meanwhile, 12 of Nigeria’s northern states employ Sharia (Islamic law), and Christians in these states face discrimination and restrictions in accessing community resources, such as clean water, health clinics, and higher education.
Nigerian church leaders, families continue to die; US top diplomat blames ‘climate of impunity’
The acting US ambassador to Nigeria has reiterated the call of his government to the Nigerian authorities to stop ongoing killings in the Middle Belt and northeast of the country. Violence attributed to militant Fulani herdsmen reached a record high this year, with more than 1,800 deaths from January to […]
Nigeria denies paying ransom for Dapchi girls’ release from Boko Haram
Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen have between them claimed at least 26,000 lives in northeast Nigeria since 2009, says the UN, as Nigerian newspaper This Day reports. According to a UN representative in Nigeria, civilians continue to bear the brunt of the conflict, through widespread displacement, abuse and violations of […]
What is behind the Fulani herdsmen-farmers conflict?
The ongoing deadly clashes between the nomadic, mainly Muslim Fulani herdsmen and the predominantly Christian farming communities of Nigeria’s Middle Belt are often referred to in the mainstream media as “farmer-herder clashes”: the Middle Belt is a farming region, and the advancing Fulani-owned herds have increasingly encroached on croplands. However, […]
Buhari does not stop Fulani because they are his ‘kith and kin’ – Christian Association of Nigeria
Nigeria under President Muhammadu Buhari’s leadership is more divided than at any time in the country’s history, the Christian Association of Nigeria’s Adamawa State chapter has declared in a letter sent to him yesterday (1 August). Condemning the “mindless massacre” of the predominantly Christian farming communities by Fulani herdsmen, CAN […]
Nigeria: herders’ attacks completely decimate villages in ‘scorched earth’ campaigns
In Nigeria, conflict between farmers and herders has become the country’s gravest security challenge, claiming six times more lives than the Boko Haram insurgency, the International Crisis Group (ICG) says in a report published yesterday. The report, ‘Stopping Nigeria’s Spiralling Farmer-Herder Conflict’, says that more than 1,300 people were killed […]
Archbishop of Canterbury raises profile of Nigeria attacks as new humanitarian crisis looms
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has challenged the British government on how much it is doing to help end violent attacks on Christians in Nigeria. His comments, made in a House of Lords debate on Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram on Tuesday (17 July), follow the publication of a […]
Buhari renews pledge to protect Nigerians as killings continue
The Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari has pledged to end the killings in the restive regions of the Middle Belt, amidst growing pressure to deal with the situation. A spate of attacks over three days – from Friday 22 to Sunday 24 June – left more than 200 dead in 11 […]
Nigerian government ‘not doing enough’ to protect citizens – Amnesty
Amnesty International has accused the Nigerian government of not doing enough to curb the violence that has claimed more than 1,800 lives so far this year. By failing to hold murderers to account, Nigerian authorities are encouraging impunity that is fuelling rising insecurity across the country, said Amnesty in a […]
Nigerian Christians refute claims herdsmen killings were retaliatory, as Plateau violence reaches new peak
In central Nigeria, clashes between predominantly Christian farmers and mainly Muslim Fulani herdsmen reached another peak in Plateau over the weekend, as suspected herdsmen went on a killing spree in a dozen villages, leaving scores dead. Early reports suggested that 86 people were killed, but local sources contacted by World […]
What does conviction of five Christian youths to hang for death of one Fulani herder show about the farmer–herdsmen conflict in N. Nigeria?
Five Christian youths were recently sentenced to death by hanging for killing a Fulani herder, himself alleged to have killed 48 people. The five are from Adamawa state in north-east Nigeria, one of the three states most severely hit by the Boko Haram insurgency. Many fled Boko Haram, only to […]