Dawn attack deaths in predominantly Christian communities in the state have risen to 51 after more than 60 Christians were killed in Nigeria’s Plateau state earlier this month.
Fulani herdsmen attacked Jikke village in Kwar district, Bassa County early Monday morning, said Blessing Yakub, a local resident.
“More than 40 Christians have been killed in a fresh attack in Jikke village in the Kwar district of Bassa Local Government Area, Plateau Province,” Yakub updated to 51 in a text message to Christian Daily International-Morning Star News, according to Channels TV. “This early morning attack by an armed Fulani herdsmen lost his life and destroyed his property.”
On Friday (April 11), alleged herdsmen killed three members of the family in the village of Zorg, primarily Christian, in Bassa County’s Miango district, community leader Sam Jugo said. He identified the victims as 56-year-old Weyi Gebeh and his sons, Zhu Weyi, 25, and 16-year-old Henry Weyi.
In Bassa, herdsmen also raided three primarily Christian villages on Tuesday night (April 8) and killed two people, said Joseph Chudu Yonkpa, community leader in Bassa’s Miango district.
“Just 24 hours after resting our beloved brothers in the village of HWRRA, killed by Fulani militias, these same herdsmen launched three separate deadly attacks on our community on the night of April 8th,” Yonkpa said in a statement. “These Fulani looters conducted catastrophic ambushings at three locations: the Modacus Hotel next to Twin Hill (GYU) in Zashi, Kwar district, Crowley College, Kwar and Miango districts.”
The person killed in Zashi was 19-year-old Aba Sunday Ngah, who also stole his bike. According to Yonkpa, Aji Daniel, 47, was killed near the Modacus Hotel in Kwar.
Residents of the Twin Hill area of Miango district escaped narrowly, he said.
These attacks are part of the disturbing trend of agricultural violence and destruction that has plagued the area for many years, he said.
“We are deeply concerned about the silence, lack of condemnation and lack of intervention or visitation with our people,” Yonkpa said. “We are particularly concerned about the lack of action taken to arrest the perpetrators of these heinous crimes.
He said residents will continue to seek justice, peace and security.
“We equally charge people to increase vigilance as attackers show no signs of halting atrocities on our land,” Yonkpa said.
David Yakub, a resident of Plateau, looked at the murders of three Christians in the village of HWRRA last week, asking, “What exactly does Fulanis want?”
“They are launching attacks on our Christian community everywhere,” he said. “We have barely finished crying for the Christians who were killed in the local government area of Boccos. Now we are Christians in the Bassa Regional Council area, attacked and many people have been killed.”
With millions of figures in Nigeria and Sahel, Fulani, primarily Muslim, constitute hundreds of clans of many different lines that do not hold the views of extremists, while some Fulani adhere to radical Islamist ideology, all party parliamentary groups (Appgs) in the UK for international freedom or beliefs.
“They are clearly intent to adopt a comparable strategy for Boko Haram and Iswap and target strong symbols of Christian and Christian identity,” the AppG report said.
Nigerian Christian leaders say they believe herdsmen’s attacks on the Christian community in the mid-zone of Nigeria are inspired by the desire to forcefully take over Islam as it forced Christian lands and made desertification difficult to maintain the flock.
According to Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List, Nigeria has remained one of the most dangerous places for Christians. According to WWL, of the 4,476 Christians killed for faith around the world during the reporting period, 3,100 (69%) were in Nigeria.
“The scale of anti-Christian violence in this country is already at the highest possible level under the global watch list methodology,” the report states.
In the north-central zone of the country, where Christians are more common than they are in the northeast and northwest, Islamic extremist Fulani militias attack farm communities, killing hundreds of Christians and, above all, hundreds of Christians. Jihadist groups such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State (ISWAP) of West African states are also active in northern states in the country where federal control is poor and Christians and their communities continue to be targeted for attacks, sexual violence and the killing of disability. Ransom aid has been increasing significantly in recent years.
The violence spreads across southern states, with new jihadist terrorist group Lakrawa appearing in the northwest, armed with sophisticated weapons and an extremist agenda, WWL noted. Lakrawa is affiliated with the expansionist al-Qaeda rebellion Jamaa Nusrat ul Islam Wa al-Muslimin, or Zinim, which is derived from Mali.
Nigeria ranked 7th in the 2025 WWL list of 50 worst countries for Christians.
