Aid to the Church in Need report on Persecution of Christians in Nigeria 2022-2024
Nigeria ranked eighth in the 2024 Global Terrorism lndex.159 Militant Fulani insurgents in the Middle Belt regularly committed massacres and other violent atrocities.160 Despite Boko Haram/Islamic State: West Africa Province (ISWAP) remaining active in the northern regions, there has been a decrease in attacks, partly because of the Nigerian Armed Forces’ counter-insurgency efforts.161
While Muslims are also victims of violence, Christians are disproportionally targeted.162 Numerous abductions and murders of Church personnel have been reported.163 Archbishop Matthew Man-Oso Ndagoso of Kaduna told ACN that kidnappers are often motivated by the prospect of ransom payments.
Acts of terrorism by Fulani insurgents have been timed to coincide with Christian holidays. For instance, militants stormed a number of Christian villages in Plateau State on Christmas Eve 2023, killing hundreds;164 they also struck on Easter Monday 2024, murdering 10 Christians, including a pregnant woman and her unborn baby.165 Motivations behind these terrorist attacks apparently include territorial gain, lslamist jihadism and ethnic tensions. However, the prevalent political and media narrative tends to cite climate change and societal tensions as the primary reasons for the violence, refusing to acknowledge any religious aspectI66 – despite evidence showing Fulani insurgents have been trained by jihadist group Boko Haram.167
In the period under review the Nigerian federal government has failed to take any meaningful actions to prevent attacks by Fulani extremist groups.168 The authorities are often slow in responding to mass killings,169 and attackers are rarely identified and held to account.170
Despite Christians making up almost half of the total population, those living in the northern regions are dominated politically by the Muslim majority, and are subject to faith–based discrimination in education and employment.171Shari’a law has been implemented in 12 of the country‘s36 northerly states, and a number of individuals have been detained after being accused of blasphemy.172
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