Borno state Gov. Babagana Umara Zulum. (BScar23625, Creative Commons)
ABUJA, Nigeria (Christian Daily International–Morning Star News) – Fulani herdsmen on Tuesday (June 16) killed five Christians in a mining site Plateau state, central Nigeria, sources said.
The five Christians were working at a mining site in the Gero area of Gyel village, in Jos South Local Government Area, when they were attacked at about 3 p.m., local residents said.
“This latest attack comes hours after terrorists attacked the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, resulting in the death of three security personnel,” area youth leader Rwang Tengwong told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “Gero village is located about five kilometers from NIPSS. This underscores the alarming deterioration of security within the area and raises serious concerns about the safety of residents and critical national institutions.”
Tengwong said a similar attack on June 8 resulted in the death of a Christian in Gyel a week earlier. He identified the slain Christian as Shedrack Dalyop, 36, a resident of Gyel village.
“The peace of the Gyel community in Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau state was once again shattered on Monday, June 8, when gunmen suspected to be Fulani bandits laid siege and killed a resident while another Christian sustained injuries during the attack,” he said in a press statement.
Borno Kidnappings
At least four Christians were killed after they and more than 500 others were kidnapped in northeastern Nigeria’s Borno state in March, and about 100 remain in captivity, community leaders said.
Some of the Christians kidnapped from Ngoshe village, Gwoza County, on March 4 were forcibly converted to Islam by their captors, Boko Haram militants who are indoctrinating others, they said.
Ibrahim Samaila Kaigama, a youth leader from southern Borno, said in a press statement on June 7 that the Nigerian government’s claim that the military secured the release of 434 kidnapped villagers from Ngoshe was false as community leaders negotiated the release of 416 of them through intermediaries, and about 100 Christians among those abducted remain captive, mostly women and children.
Ransom payment were made to the kidnappers, he said.
“We have secured the release of 416 kidnapped persons from Ngoshe community,” Kaigama said. “They were released on June 6. We are happy and grateful that through our efforts, our persistent cries, and long discussions, the results are now being seen.”
Borno State Gov. Babagana Umara Zulum said in a press statement on June 8, however, that the military and federal officials had secured the release of 434 of the villagers kidnapped from Ngoshe.
“I also want to use this opportunity to commend the Nigerian Armed Forces, the office of the National Security Adviser, the Department of State Security and all other security agencies, including our gallant Civilian JTF, Forest Guards, Vigilante and Hunters, who have participated immensely in ensuring the release of these abducted men, women and children,” Zulum said. “We are here to felicitate with Ngoshe community following the release of the abducted women and children numbering about 434.”
About 360 people were released on June 6, he said, and others were released “two to three weeks” prior for total of 434, he said.
More Christians were killed in Nigeria than in any other country from Oct. 1, 2024 to Sept. 30, 2025, according to Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List. Of the 4,849 Christians killed worldwide for their faith during that period, 3,490 – 72 percent – were Nigerians, an increase from 3,100 the prior year. Nigeria ranked No. 7 on the WWL list of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.
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.
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.
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- Borno state Gov. Babagana Umara Zulum. (BScar23625, Creative Commons)
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