Fulani terrorists on April 2 and three killed greater than 60 Christians in Plateau state, Nigeria in what the governor called a “genocide,” sources said.
The attacks were carried out against seven Christian communities in Bokkos County, including Hurti village, where greater than 40 Christians were slain, said community leader Maren Aradong.
“More than 1,000 Christians were displaced [in Hurti] throughout the attacks, and 383 houses were destroyed by these bandits,” Aradong told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “These attacks began on Wednesday, 2 April, at about 3 p.m., when these armed Muslim Fulani herdsmen invaded our communities in large numbers; they got here on motorcycles and attacked us.”
The assailants destroyed food stores and looted other items, he added.
Farmasum Fuddang, chairman of the Bokkos Community Development Council (BCDC), said initially 21 Christians were killed on Wednesday (April 2), but by the subsequent day, 40 more Christians were slaughtered, bringing the death toll to “greater than 60 Christians killed throughout the two days of onslaught against our communities.”
“These attacks were carried out by Fulani terrorists who targeted Christian communities of Ruwi, Mangor, Tamiso, Daffo, Manguna, Hurti, and Tadai,” Fuddang said.
An attack in Ruwi village on Wednesday resulted within the deaths of 11 Christians attending a wake for a deceased community member, he said, and by the next morning, 10 other Christians were killed within the village.
Plateau Gov. Caleb Mutfwang told Arise News on Monday (April 7) that the attacks in Bokkos constituted genocide.
“I might say it unapologetically, what happened within the last two weeks in Bokkos is genocide – I say it unreservedly,” Mutfwang said in a televised interview. “No one has given me any reason to imagine that what happened was politically motivated, and if there may be any such suggestion I’ll be glad to receive the evidence of such, because these were unprovoked attacks on innocent people, vulnerable people.”
Over the years such attacks have come throughout the onset of the farming season, followed by a respite while Christian farmers cultivate what little stays, after which attacks resume at harvest time, he said.
“So, it suggests to us that this can be a well-coordinated plan to maintain the people in those areas in perpetual poverty,” Mutfwang said. “It is feasible that there might have been tensions prior to now between communities, but I’ve challenged anyone to inform me who the feuding communities are. If we knew any community feuding with one other community, we’ll have the opportunity to step in and produce in a reconciliation process. But for the time being you’re coping with attackers which are faceless, and so you simply leave it to the incontrovertible fact that that is ill-motivated and is geared toward driving the people out of their lands.”
Predominantly Christian farmers are driven from their lands for 3 to 5 years of occupation by predominantly Muslim Fulanis, suggesting the attacks are motivated by desire to seize lands, he said.
“I’ve had people dispute that land-grabbing is the motive, but we’re yet to search out evidence on the contrary,” Mutfwang said. “These communities have lived in peace with other ethnic nationalities, with other people of spiritual persuasions. The interesting thing you’ll know on the Plateau is that many families are inter-religious, and so religion will not be a lot the difficulty. I feel that here we’re coping with some powerful forces who mobilize these faceless people and are available and unleash it on these natives. And at the tip of the day, the natives are left defenseless because they never envisaged that this type of attack will occur.”
He condemned the attacks as “unprovoked.”
Maj. Samson Zakhom, military spokesman for soldiers drafted to Bokkos, confirmed in an announcement that villages attacked included Tamiso, Daffo, Manguna, Tadai and Hurti. He added that soldiers repelled the assailants and that ongoing military operations geared toward tracking down the assailants.
“On April 3, further clearance operations were carried out at Hurti, where troops encountered and engaged militants hiding within the mountainous region,” Zakhom said. “The ensuing confrontation resulted within the recovery of a locally fabricated pistol, six rounds of 9 mm ammunition and 4 motorcycles. The troops are continuing efforts to neutralize the remaining militants still at large in the world.”
Amnesty International on Friday (April 4) called on the Nigerian government to stem killings in Plateau state and demanded justice for victims, calling attacks “a pattern of mass killings and government inaction” in central Nigeria.
The statement from Amnesty International noted that the villages of Ruwi, Mangor, Daffo, Manguna, Hurti and Tadai have been repeatedly attacked.
“Apart from killing people, the attackers are also razing entire villages, deliberately destroying homes and farms,” Amnesty stated. “Investigations carried out by us have showed that a minimum of 1,336 people were killed between December 2023 and February 2024 across Plateau state, with Mangu, Bokkos and Barkin-Ladi Local Government Areas being the worst affected.”
Residents proceed to precise deep frustration with the response of security forces, alleging that they’re either absent during attacks or show up too late to stop bloodshed, the group reported.
“Most villagers repeatedly told Amnesty International that the federal government left them on the mercy of their attackers,” it stated. “They complained of receiving little or no help from security officials during attacks, despite informing them prior or calling for help throughout the incidents. The incontrovertible fact that no perpetrators have been dropped at justice leaves rural communities of Plateau state feeling completely helpless and on the mercy of ruthless gunmen.”
The Rev. Tongsmangs Dasbak, a Christian leader in Plateau state, said the attacks have deeply affected the areas.
“The ongoing security crisis in Plateau state, particularly in Mangu and Bokkos Local Government Areas, has reached alarming levels,” Dasbak said in an announcement to Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “The persistent attacks by marauding Fulani herdsmen have led to significant lack of lives, destruction of property, and displacement of communities. Despite the concerted efforts by the state government to revive peace, the situation stays dire, necessitating urgent federal intervention.”
Mangu and Bokkos counties have suffered high numbers of casualties, with lots of of individuals losing their lives and lots of more sustaining life-threatening injuries, he said.
“The indiscriminate killings often goal defenseless civilians, including women, children and the elderly,” Dasbak said. “Entire families have been worn out in midnight raids, abandoning a trail of sorrow and despair. This lack of human life will not be only a statistic but a profound tragedy that has disrupted the social fabric of the region.”
Homes, schools, church buildings and markets have been razed to the bottom as communities that took years to construct have been reduced to ashes inside hours, he said. Many survivors who managed to flee the violence now live in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps, unable to return to their homes.
“The destruction of infrastructure further exacerbates the crisis, as essential services comparable to healthcare, education and transportation are severely disrupted,” he said. “Without proper security measures, these attacks proceed to escalate, abandoning a wasteland of desolation.”
Military intervention is required to dismantle the networks of the armed herdsmen and restore peace, he said, adding that intelligence-based operations, coupled with the deployment of well-equipped security personnel, may also help neutralize the violence.
“Romans 13:4 states, ‘For the one in authority is God’s servant to your good. But in case you do incorrect, be afraid, for rulers don’t bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer,’” Dasbak said. “The federal government must exercise its authority to bring justice to the oppressed and end the reign of terror in Plateau state.”
Numbering within the hundreds of thousands across Nigeria and the Sahel, predominantly Muslim Fulani comprise lots of of clans of many various lineages who don’t 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 technique to Boko Haram and ISWAP and display a transparent intent to focus on Christians and potent symbols of Christian identity,” the APPG report states.
Christian leaders in Nigeria have said they imagine 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 amongst probably the most dangerous places on earth for Christians, based on Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List of the countries where it’s most difficult to be a Christian. Of the 4,476 Christians killed for his or her faith worldwide throughout the reporting period, 3,100 (69 percent) were in Nigeria, based on the WWL.
“The measure of anti-Christian violence within the country is already at the utmost possible under World Watch List methodology,” the report stated.
In the country’s North-Central zone, where Christians are more common than they’re within the North-East and North-West, Islamic extremist Fulani militia attack farming communities, killing many lots of, Christians above all, based on the report. Jihadist groups comparable to Boko Haram and the splinter group Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), amongst others, are also lively within the country’s northern states, where federal government control is scant and Christians and their communities proceed to be the targets of raids, sexual violence, and roadblock killings, based on the report. Abductions for ransom have increased considerably in recent times.
The violence has spread to southern states, and a latest jihadist terror group, Lakurawa, has emerged within 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.
