Local sources say that the attacks on the Christian region of Benue, a predominantly Christian region of Nigeria, have killed dozens of Christians since March 28th.
In Otobi Village, the herdsmen cornered the herdsmen on the evening of April 5th, forcing thousands of residents to flee when the assailants killed three Christians and lured dozens of others, Peter Ocheppa said.
“The attack occurred at night. Herdsmen invaded the community and indiscriminately shot villagers who were already sleeping at home,” Ocekpa told Christian Daily International’s Star News. “The incident forced the villagers to escape into the bushes in various directions.”
Ambo Kennedy, a representative representing the Benue State Legislature, said the herdsmen recently attacked other communities in the area, including Okpomaju, Okete and Asa villages in Otukpo County.
“These herdsmen’s attacks are becoming too common and frequent,” Kennedy told Star News for Christian Daily International Morning.
On April 3, the herdsmen attacked residents on the outskirts of Otukpo town, killing two Christians and luring 13 people, said Johnson Daniel, a local resident. Agnes Oguche, a resident of Olena village in Asa area, said the herdsmen killed many other Christians in the attacks from March 28th to March 31st.
“The Olena community was surrounded for four days from Friday, March 28th to Monday, March 31st, killing dozens of Christians and acquiring many other Christians,” Ogche told Christian Daily International’s Morning Star News.
Maxwell Ogiri, chairman of the Otukpo Local Government Council, said the council has compiled detailed reports on these attacks and sent them to officials and security agencies in Benue.
“We look forward to taking steps to snatch these repeated attacks into the bud,” Ogiri told Christian Daily International Morning Star News.
Edwin Otzia of the Nigerian Christian Association, who lives in the US, Canada, the UK and the European diaspora, condemned herdsmen’s violence ongoing in the Otukpo region and elsewhere in Benue state.
“We strongly condemn the deafening silence of Nigerian political leaders and security agencies in the diaspora regarding the ongoing bloodshed in Otukpo and other parts of Benue,” Otia said at a press conference. “It’s ridiculous that while innocent citizens are slaughtered and the entire village is being plundered, people who are entrusted with the responsibility of protecting lives and property are being plundered.”
While the perpetrators of these crimes are known, security agencies that should actively pursue them have turned their eyes on them, he said.
“This negligence is nothing but an accomplice,” Ochia said. “This reckless indifference from the highest level of the government is unacceptable and is a shame to the victims and their sad family. Nigerian security agencies must awaken from their sleep.
“Cops have been deployed in affected areas and are currently underway in Otukpo,” Catherine Anene, a spokesman for the Benue State Police Command, told the Christian Daily Daily-Morning Star News.
The Ray Faithful Trust Foundation, a Christian ministry that persecuted Nigerian Christians, said that Fulani herdsmen launched an unprovoked attack last year on Umogidi Itekpa’s predominantly Christian community.
“The attack follows a recurring pattern of Fulani militias against indigenous Christian nationalities in Benue,” group Bosun Emmanuel said at a press conference. “The attack, which was followed by intensive care from fatal wounds, killed 34 people. At the same time, more than 130 homes were burned and destroyed. The dust settled from the latest wild bar attack by Fulanis, realising that 30 wives were not husbands.”
Isaac Ikpa of Benue said the Centre for Social Justice, Equity and Transparency (Cesjet) has expressed concern over the surprising increase in the attacks of herdsmen in the state. The Nigerian government responded to a response to the constant herdsmen’s attacks on Christians in the state, citing violence in Otukpo and surrounding communities.
“Over the past few months, the area has witnessed an unsettling increase in violent incidents, including murder, trickery, vandalism and the threat of further attacks,” IKPA said in a press statement.
He acquitted two others from his residence in the ASA 2 area on March 31, citing the murder and abduction of Chief Onche Akatu. Five people were killed earlier this year in the Okpomodju community due to suspected herdsmen. The murder of Felicia Ochigbo in the old NTA area on March 30th. And the venue murder links the invitation of 14 passengers on board on Itobi on April 3rd.
“These cases are many other things that underline the need for urgent action,” Ikpa said. “These continued attacks have had a ripple effect on the national economy and have severely disrupted the terrifying environment, paralyzed economic activity and community life.”
Wilfred Chikpa Anagbe, bishop of the Parish of Makurdi, testified before the United States. The House Foreign Affairs Committee on March 12 said violence is part of a long-term Islamic agenda to homogenize the population “through strategies to reduce and ultimately eliminate Christian identity in half the population.”
“This strategy involves both violent and non-violent behavior, such as the removal of Christians from their positions of power,” Anagbe said. “To rape women, kill and expel the Christians, to destroy the churches and farmland of Christian peasants, to take over such land by Fulani attackers, and to change the name of these villages they are taking over.”
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 Nigerian Middle Belt are inspired by the desire to forcefully take away Islam, as desertification made it difficult for them 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 scarce 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.
