On Monday (March 10th), the herdsmen of Hulani killed at least six Christian villagers in central Nigeria.
The perpetrators who invaded the predominantly Christian Farin Duts Village in Nasarawa County, Nasarawa, also set up a home on Monday, said community resident Esau Ezekiel.
“Many Christian villagers have been killed, six bodies have been recovered to date, and many homes have attacked our villages, and then the Fulani herdsmen have been burned out by running wild,” Ezekiel told Christian Daily International Morning Star News.
The herdsmen attacked the residents around 3am while they were sleeping, he said.
The day before (March 9th), the villagers were attending a church service.
“The herdsmen were found cutting down branches from one of the mango trees on the farm and supplying the cow with mango leaves,” he said. “The farmer asked him to lead the cows out of the farm, but instead of following the farmer’s instructions, instead of stopping the cows from destroying the farm’s crops, the herdsmen stabbed the Christian farmer to die.”
Ezekiel said the herdsmen led other Fulanis in an early morning attack on Monday. He has identified people who were killed as Danladi on Friday, Simeon Madaki, seniors of the Ayau tribe, and Waaz on Sunday, Vincent Sunday, Taimako Senior and Filibas Jatau on Sunday.
He said the injured in the attack were Christians Samaniyah Wasoux, Vincent Ezekiel and Johnson Maicaswa.
The Nasarawa State Police Command confirmed the names and numbers of Christians killed in Monday’s attack and said the bodies were identified as those of Simeon Madaki, Ayau Senior, Sunday Waaz, Vincent Sunday and Taimako Senior Filivas Jatau.
Nasarawa State Police spokesman Ramhan Nansel said in a statement that three injured victims had been taken to the medical centre for treatment.
“Some homes, shops, motorcycles and cars were also destroyed during the attack,” Nansell said.
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 their desire to forcefully take over Islam as they 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.
