Fulani militants drive deadly religious violence and mass displacement in Nigeria, USCIRF reports

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) reports that roughly 30,000 Fulani militants operating chiefly in Nigeria’s northwest and Middle Belt region have caused the highest number of deaths among all religious communities in the country over the past year. Attacks have targeted Christian farming villages and, increasingly, non‑Fulani Muslim communities, involving the burning of homes and churches, kidnapping, rape, murder and large‑scale land invasions. The violence has displaced at least 1.3 million people, forcing them into unsafe camps. USCIRF criticises the federal and state response as unsatisfactory or complicit, noting delays and alleged bias in security actions. U.S. counter‑terrorism experts caution that a military approach could worsen instability and stress the need for strong Nigerian political will to address the crisis.

The report highlights the complex mix of religious, economic and environmental drivers behind the militancy and calls for broader conditions that protect the safe practice of religious freedom.