Fulani herdsmen killed at least 10 Christians, including a Pentecostal pastor, in Nigeria’s Benue state on Monday (November 3).
Residents said the attack on Anwure Oguru village in Ohimini County massacred Pastor Simon Nbaku of the Fire and Fire Ministry and other Christians as farmers worked in their fields. The attackers also set fire to a Catholic church building and destroyed dozens of homes.
“The pastor’s body was found alongside the bodies of two other Christians, Adoya Ejigai and Eje Loko,” Kasmir Agege, a resident of the area, told Christian Daily International Morning Star News. “So far, 10 Christians have been confirmed dead and one more Christian has been abducted by herders.”
Mr Agege identified the attackers as Fulani herdsmen.
Ojay Ojonya, a resident of the village, said he had lost relatives to the assault.
“My uncle and cousin are victims of invasion and killing by armed Fulani herdsmen in Anure area of Ohimini Local Church Area of Benue State,” Ojonya told Christian Daily International Morning Star News. “Lord, please come to my rescue.”
Paul Barsima, a resident of the area, said the violence continued until 5pm on Tuesday (November 4), leaving at least 10 Christians dead.
“At least 10 Christians have been killed and several others are missing in a brutal attack by Fulani herdsmen on Anwuru community in Ohimini Local Government Area of Benue State,” Bersima said. “During the attack, pastoralists committed widespread violence against Christians. Pastoralists set many houses on fire, including a Catholic church chapel.”
The Fulani, a predominantly Muslim group of millions in Nigeria and the Sahel region, are made up of hundreds of clans of various lineages that do not hold extremist views, although some Fulani espouse radical Islamist ideology, Britain’s All Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom or Belief (APPG) said in a 2020 report.
“They have adopted strategies comparable to Boko Haram and ISWAP, and have demonstrated a clear intent to target Christians and powerful symbols of Christian identity,” the APPG report said.
Christian leaders in Nigeria say they believe herdsmen’s attacks on Christian communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt are inspired by a desire to forcibly occupy Christian lands and impose Islam, as desertification makes it difficult to maintain herds.
Nigeria remains one of the most dangerous places on earth to be a Christian, according to Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List of the Most Difficult Countries to Be a Christian. According to WWL, of the 4,476 Christians killed for their faith around the world during the reporting period, 3,100 (69 percent) were in Nigeria.
“Countermeasures against anti-Christian violence in this country have already reached maximum levels based on the Global Watch List methodology,” the report said.
The report said that in the north-central region, which has a larger Christian population than the northeast and northwest, Fulani Islamist militias attacked rural villages, killing hundreds of people, especially Christians. Jihadist groups such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP), among others, are also active in the country’s northern provinces, which are poorly controlled by the federal government, and Christians and their communities continue to be targeted for attacks, sexual violence, and barricaded killings, the report said. Kidnappings for ransom have increased significantly in recent years.
Violence has spread to southern provinces, and in the northwest a new jihadist terrorist group, Laklawa, has emerged with advanced weaponry and a radical Islamist agenda, WWL said. Raqlawa is affiliated with Jamaah Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslim (JNIM), an expansionist al-Qaeda rebel group originating from Mali.
Nigeria ranked 7th on the 2025 WWL list of the 50 most difficult countries to be a Christian.
