As Christians in Africa’s most populous country endure yet another horrific attack by Islamic militants, the Trump administration and the world must call out the ongoing slaughter for what it really is: a religiously motivated genocide.
Islamic Fulani tribesmen have carried out yet another brutal massacre on Christians in Nigeria, this time killing an estimated 200 people. The atrocity followed days of escalating violence and renewed pleas from Christian leaders to recognize the ongoing genocide taking place in Nigeria over the last several years.
Late on the night of June 13 and into the early morning, a group of Islamic Fulani tribesmen attacked Yelwata, a predominantly Christian village in the Benue state. The village serves as a mission site for internally displaced people (IDP) as millions of Nigerians have been forced from their homes in the last few years due to Islamic terror groups.
Earlier that night, the Fulani militants tried to storm St. Joseph’s Church where up to 700 IDPs were sleeping. The police intervened and repelled the attack. The assailants then turned to the market square and attacked shops, stalls, homes, and makeshift shelters housing displaced families. The militants soaked buildings in gasoline and set them ablaze, burning many of their victims alive.
Those who tried to escape were shot or hacked with machetes. Men, women, children, and even infants were among the dead.
Matthew Mnyam, a community leader, said entire families were “wiped out.”
“A man, his two wives, and all their children were burned alive. It was a well-coordinated assault from both eastern and western flanks of the community.”
Yelwata had been considered a relatively safe location following attacks in nearby towns, and thousands of IDPs sought refuge there. Tragically that sense of safety was crushed in one night.
According to Yelwata’s parish priest, Father Ukuma Jonathan Angbianbee, the militants carefully coordinated the attack, using heavy rains as cover while converging on the village from multiple angles.
“There is no question about who carried out the attack,” he said. They were definitely Fulanis. They were shouting ‘Allahu Akhbar.’”
The massacre followed days of attacks by Fulani tribesmen in the Benue and Plateau states. On June 11, Fulani tribesmen attacked Christian farmers in Rigwe Chiefdom, killing four, including Musa Chega, Gali, and 25-year-old Uhwie Emmanuel and her 9-month-old daughter, Mary.
The Fulani have staged multiple ambushes in Rigwe this month killing at least 10 and wounding others.
For years, Christian farmers in Nigeria have endured unrelenting violence from Islamic Fulani militants and terrorist groups like Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
According to findings by the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa, at least 55,910 Christians were killed between October 2019 and September 2023.
The Nigerian nongovernmental organization Intersociety reported that 8,222 Christians were martyred from January 2023 to January 2024.
Meanwhile, the Observatory estimates that approximately 21,000 Christians had been taken by terrorist groups.
In fact, mass kidnapping people for ransom is another terrorist tactic that is ravaging Nigeria. In December, the country’s National Bureau of Statistics reported that 2 million people had been kidnapped between May 2023 and April 2024. It is estimated that families have paid $1.42 billion in ransom.
The horrifying statistics reflect the ongoing grief of a country overrun by Islamic terrorism and lawlessness.
For years, Nigerian Christians have called on their government — and the world — to wake up to their plight. But Nigerian academics and Western officials continue to frame the violence as a land dispute, allegedly driven by climate change.
Christians in Nigeria reject that narrative. They insist that it is not a land dispute but a religiously motivated genocide.
“Christians are being slaughtered in a gruesome manner in Nigeria’s middle belt where Christians predominate, and unfortunately, nothing is happening [to protect them],” said Micheel Odeh James of Truth Nigeria, in an interview with CBN News.
James argues the genocide is not being covered for political reasons.
“The previous government that’s under Muhammad Buhari, who is a Fulani man, passed the killings off as ‘farmers clash,’ but when we defined it as ‘genocidal killing prompted by land grabbing,’ they get angry,” he stated. “So they started suppressing the press from carrying out the report of these killings. A new president has come and he has (only) liberalized the space and that is why you can see to a certain extent the media are carrying it halfheartedly.”
In March, the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa approved measures urging President Donald Trump to impose sanctions on Nigeria.
Committee Chairman Chris Smith, R-N.J., stated at the time, “Militant Fulani herdsmen are terrorists. They steal and vandalize, they kill and boast about it, they kidnap and rape, and they enjoy total impunity from elected officials. None of them have been arrested or brought to justice.”
“Make no mistake — these attacks are religiously motivated. Denying this reality contradicts the overwhelming evidence we have seen,” the committee added in its report. “This ‘religious cleansing’ must stop, and those responsible must be held accountable.”
According to Truth Nigeria, the paramount ruler of the Tiv tribe challenged Nigerian government officials at a townhall meeting last week. That leader, James Francis Ayatse, said,
“It’s not herders-farmers clashes, not communal clashes or reprisal attacks. It is a calculated, well-planned, full-scale genocidal invasion and land grabbing campaign by herder terrorists and bandits. Wrong diagnosis will always lead to wrong treatment. This is war.”
Ayatse is right: Addressing the violence in Nigeria starts with recognizing the truth. Nigeria’s government has proven that they are either unable or unwilling to protect its people. There is a genocide taking place against Nigeria’s Christians as Fulani tribesmen continue to attack the most helpless among them.
This is clearly not a land dispute caused by climate change as the “experts” claim.
Only after leaders recognize that truth can a solution be reached.
In a bizarre move, the Biden administration removed Nigeria from the State Department’s Countries of Particular Concern list of nations that violate religious freedom. Throughout the entirety of the Biden presidency, Nigeria was never once placed on the list despite an increase in the instances of slaughter.
Also, Numerous Nigerian states have blasphemy laws that allow supposed offenders to be arrested and even executed for violating Sharia law.
Smith chastised the Biden administration for removing Nigeria from the State Department’s CPC list, “despite overwhelming evidence that religious persecution had worsened. This decision ignored the repeated recommendations of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.”
Smith said he expected Trump to place Nigeria back on the list and take steps to help the persecuted.
What those steps might be is unclear, but it is likely that the administration will put Nigeria back on the watchlist and may even impose sanctions.
The question world leaders have to answer is whether Nigeria’s government is largely unable to halt the violence or if they primarily refuse to stop it.
Once they answer that, they must decide what to do about it.
Surely thousands of Christians being martyred, millions forced to flee, and millions forcefully taken where they often face torture, brainwashing, or death is not something the world can or should turn a blind eye to.
However, that seems to be what the world has largely done.
As eyes focus on Ukraine, Gaza, and Iran, the violence in Nigeria has mostly been uncovered.
We expect that the Trump administration will champion religious freedom around the world, but how it chooses to deal with Nigeria is still unknown.
But this violence must be called out for what it is: a religiously motivated genocide.
As Christians, we must pray for our brothers and sisters in Nigeria, asking God to protect them, thwart their enemies, and give them the providential strength they need to endure.
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