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CV NEWS FEED // Muslim Fulani militants killed more than 60 Christians in a wave of brutal assaults April 2 and 3 in Plateau State, Nigeria, April 2 and 3, in what the state’s governor has denounced as genocide.
The attacks targeted seven Christian-majority villages in Bokkos County, according to an emailed press release from International Christian Concern (ICC).
“These armed Muslim Fulani herdsmen invaded our communities in large numbers, arriving on motorcycles and attacking us,” local leader Maren Aradong said in the release.
The militants also looted food and belongings, torched 383 homes, and displaced more than 1,000 residents.
The Fulani are a Muslim ethnic group spread across West Africa, some factions of which have formed heavily armed militias that frequently attack Christian communities.
Governor of Plateau State Caleb Mutfwang called the coordinated violence a genocide.
“I would say it unapologetically, what happened in the last two weeks in Bokkos is genocide,” Mutfwang told Arise News. “I say it unreservedly. No one has given me any reason to believe that what happened was politically motivated, and if there is any such suggestion I’ll be glad to receive the evidence of such because these were unprovoked attacks on innocent people, vulnerable people.”
This is the latest in a series of deadly assaults in Nigeria’s Middle Belt region, where Fulani militias have waged a campaign of terror that observers say combines religious extremism and land-driven conflict. As access to fertile grazing land becomes more strained, Fulani militants have increasingly targeted Christian communities.
>> Targeted Christian killings continue in Nigeria: 28 dead in past month <<
Mutfwang said that the attacks follow a troubling pattern linked to the farming calendar, Arise News reported. He noted that violence tends to erupt at the beginning of the planting season and again just before harvest, effectively preventing locals from farming.
“[I]t suggests to us that this is a well-coordinated plan to keep the people in those areas in perpetual poverty,” he said.
While past tensions between communities may have existed, the governor said there is currently no evidence of such feuds. Instead, the perpetrators remain “faceless,” and the violence appears deliberately aimed at displacing residents.
More than 5,000 Christians were killed in Nigeria in 2024 alone, according to Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List. The country has been repeatedly ranked as the world’s deadliest place for Christians.
President of ICC Jeff King condemned the recent attacks and criticized both the Nigerian government and the international community for inaction.
“The slaughter of over 60 Christians in Plateau State is yet another scene in the long-running play called ‘Nigeria’s genocide against its Christian population,’” he said. “The Fulani militias have operated with impunity for almost 20 years … The Nigerian government has never acted in a meaningful way to catch the perpetrators of these attacks or bring them to justice because they choose to ignore them while they plead with the U.S. for more military aid!”
ICC is calling on the US to designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), citing the government’s failure to confront ongoing religious persecution.
“The global community must hold the Nigerian government accountable to stop the stealth jihad and slow-motion genocide,” King stated.
Catholic leaders have also raised alarm, according to ICC. Bishop Ignatius Kaigama of Abuja has warned that persecution of Christians in Nigeria is “more intense than ever.” Genocide Watch recently described the country as a “killing field of defenseless Christians.”
>> Nigerian bishop calls for end of country’s Islamic-driven culture of death <<
