Herdsmen Kill Seven Christians in Central Nigeria

ABUJA, Nigeria (Christian Daily International–Morning Star News) – Fulani herdsmen on Aug. 24 killed two Christians in Benue state, Nigeria, following the slaughter of five others earlier in the month, sources said.

All seven Christians were killed in Guma County, the same area where as many as 200 Christians were slain in attacks on June 13-14 in Yelwata village.

In predominantly Christian Tse Orkpe village on Aug. 24, “armed Fulani herdsmen” ambushed Christians on their farms, said area resident Tivta Samuel Aondohemba.

“One of the Christian victims, Mr. Mboi Toli, a displaced Christian from Igyungu Aze village, was shot and killed by the herdsmen,” Aondohemba told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “The second victim escaped with bullet wounds but later died.”

The herdsmen chased and shot at farmers as if they were animals, he said.

“At the moment, the Ukpiam-Umenger road has been taken over and blocked by armed Fulani bandits who kill Christian villagers who dare to ply the road,” Aondohemba said.

The attacks came as intelligence reports indicated the presence of Fulani camps in border areas with Nasarawa state, said area resident Garshagu Atovigba.

“Intelligence gathered on the evening of Thursday, 28/8/25, reveals that a significant number of suspected Fulani armed marauders were sighted at Tungwa Manja, a village in Doka District, Doma LGA of Nasarawa state,” Atovigba told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “It is believed that their target of attack is some Christian communities in Guma Local Government Area of Benue state.”

In a herdsmen raid on Guma County’s predominantly Christian Uikpam village on Aug. 13, two Christian villagers were killed, said area resident Joseph Dugeri. He identified the slain Christians as Francis Nomsoor and Kelvin.

“This attack was also the second attack carried out against the community by herdsmen,” Dugeri said.

Another resident, Daniel Ikpeme, said that on Aug. 11, herdsmen again attacked Yelwata village, killing three Christians.

“This is a second of such attacks against Yelwata as an earlier attack on 13 June resulted in the death of more than 200 Christians,” Ikpeme said.

Udeme Edet, deputy superintendent of the Benue State Police, said in a statement that the three persons were killed in Yelwata after officers had repelled assailants from the village and previously from Udei village.

“On 11/8/2025 at about 0500 hours, some gunmen suspected to be bandit herdsmen attempted to invade Udei town in Guma Local Government Area, but police tactical units deployed to Udei repelled them after engaging them in a shootout, and they escaped through the border forest,” Edet said. “At about 0700 hrs, police tactical teams deployed to Yelwata heard gunshots from armed men heading towards Yelwata town.”

In response, the police tactical teams and other security agents fired on the invaders, who eventually fled with gunshot injuries, he said.

“Regrettably, when the security units in Yelwata pursued the bandits into the forest, it was discovered that they had attacked some persons who had earlier gone to their farms at the outskirts of the village; three persons sustained serious injuries,” Edet said. “They were taken to Benue State University Teaching Hospital where they are currently receiving treatment, while three other persons were confirmed dead.”

Nigeria’s secret service, the Department of State Services (DSS), stated that it had identified nine terrorists who have attacked the Guma communities, and that two of them have been arrested.

Charged under anti-terrorism laws in court in Abuja were Haruna Adamu and Muhammad Abdullahi of Awe Local Government Area of Nassarawa state, DSS officials said. Charged under Section 12 of the Terrorism Prevention Act, 2022, the two suspects were implicated in the attacks on Abinsi and Yelwata villages on June 13-14, officials said.

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.

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