A new report cited by International Christian Concern says Islamic Fulani militias are the deadliest persecutors of Christians in Nigeria, responsible for a far greater share of civilian deaths than Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province combined.
The report, based on a six-year study by the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa, challenges the common assumption that Boko Haram and ISWAP are the primary drivers of Christian persecution in Nigeria.
“Violence linked to Fulani militia is the dominant force behind Nigeria’s death toll. The Western preoccupation with Boko Haram is, at best, misleading,” Frans Vierhout, a senior research analyst at ORFA, told TruthNigeria, according to ICC.
The study found that terror-related violence killed 79,323 people in Nigeria from 2019 to September 2025, an average of 36 people per day. More than 42,000 of those killed were civilians.
According to the report, Islamic Fulani militias accounted for 44 percent of the deaths, compared with 12 percent attributed to Boko Haram and ISWAP combined. The study also found that Christians were killed at a rate 4.4 times higher than Muslims, though Muslims also have been targeted and killed in the violence.
The findings echo concerns raised earlier this year by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Baptist Press reported in May that USCIRF said Fulani militants had caused the highest number of deaths among religious communities in Nigeria over the previous year, compared with attacks by organized insurgent groups and criminal gangs.
USCIRF said Fulani militants have attacked Muslim communities as well, including non-Fulani Muslims, but said many militants have targeted Christian communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt and increasingly in the South, burning homes and churches and carrying out kidnappings and killings.
International Christian Concern said its Nigeria-based reporter has documented Fulani extremist attacks for years. The organization previously called for the U.S. to designate Fulani militias as an “entity of particular concern” after Nigeria was designated a “country of particular concern.”
Judd Saul, founder and president of Equipping the Persecuted, said the report affirms what workers on the ground have witnessed for years. His organization recently issued a terror alert after at least 150 Christians were massacred in Nigeria’s Middle Belt region.
“While President Trump has rightly condemned terrorism in Nigeria and supported military operations against ISIS-linked terrorists, those actions have not addressed what we believe is now the primary threat facing Christian communities throughout Nigeria’s Middle Belt,” Saul said. “As of today, the Trump Administration has taken no direct action to stop the Islamist Fulani Ethnic Militia, the group responsible for the overwhelming majority of attacks against Christian communities in Benue, Plateau, and Kaduna states.”
ICC said the findings point to the need for greater international attention to Fulani militia violence and its impact on Christian communities in Nigeria.
Founded in 1995, International Christian Concern works to assist the persecuted church worldwide through assistance, advocacy and awareness. The organization was founded by Steve Snyder after his earlier work with Christian Solidarity International’s U.S. division.
ICC’s recently released Global Persecution Index includes an overview of Christian persecution in Nigeria and 20 other countries.
This article originally appeared in the Christian Index.
