People of faith face growing climate of violence, fear in Nigeria

LONDON — Christmas in Nigeria saw people of faith in the strife-torn African nation giving thanks for blessings — the release of kidnapped schoolchildren — while mourning another tragedy, the Wednesday night bombing of a mosque that killed five people.   

The attack on worshippers at a mosque in Nigeria’s northeastern city of Maiduguri was likely carried out by a suicide bomber, according to police, and left 35 injured in addition to those killed.

The bombing is the latest in a series of attacks in Nigeria’s troubled northern region, where the country is battling multiple armed groups, including Boko Haram and its splinter group, Islamic State West Africa Province.

Across the country, Christian and Muslim religious leaders expressed growing concerns about the rise of sectarian violence.

Judd Saul, founder of Equipping the Persecuted, an Iowa-based organization that looks to help persecuted Christians, said the situation in Nigeria is particularly troubling.

“We’ve obtained intelligence that the Fulani ethnic militia are gathering,” said Mr. Saul, adding that his organization has corroborated the information through multiple eyewitness accounts and local church networks.

“They are gathering and mobilizing for an attack any day now. We have confirmed this with eyewitness sightings of paramilitaries mobilizing around the country,” he said.

Much of the bloodshed afflicting Nigeria has been blamed on the country’s many jihadist terrorist groups and on the Fulani, one of West Africa’s largest tribal groups.

Mr. Saul said his group’s sources on the ground have reported seeing large gangs of Fulanis on motorcycles armed with AK-47s massing in key locations.

Pastor James Wuye, a prominent Nigerian preacher, told The Washington Times on Monday that armed Fulani gangs have been stealing large numbers of motorcycles in recent days that Christians fear will be used in new attacks in Nigeria’s Middle Belt — where Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim North and predominantly Christian South meet.


The Fulani are one of Africa’s largest ethnic groups and largely live in peace with other groups. Christian leaders say armed Fulani militias — often distinct from the Islamist Boko Haram and ISIS — have launched increasingly coordinated attacks against Christian farming communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt this year.



“We believe Fulani herdsmen are ordering attacks on Christians in an effort to annex land around the holidays. Christians who are traveling over the holidays are worried they may be kidnapped. In some instances, airfares have more than doubled on some domestic routes this week,” Mr. Wuye said.



The threat is not hypothetical.

St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, in northwestern Niger State was the target of a mass kidnapping on Nov. 21. Gunmen on motorcycles stormed the school in the early hours and quickly overpowered the local guards. Some 253 students, some as young as 4, were herded into the forests. Twelve adult staff from the school were also seized.

Nigerian authorities blamed the assault on bandits common in the area, while Nigerian Catholics say the attack on the school was a terrorist attack. Nigerian authorities reported that the hostages were released in stages, with the final group freed on Sunday.  



“We are happy these students will be able to spend Christmas,” said Mr. Wuye, “but the incident raises a number of questions. It is likely a ransom was paid, and that raises even more questions, including collusion with the state.”

Mr. Wuye and other Nigerian Christian leaders believe such “kidnappings” are actually ruses by which Nigerian government funds are transferred to armed groups.

Wednesday’s mosque attack served as a reminder that the country’s widening insecurity continues to endanger civilians of all faiths. 

In Nigeria’s Central Plateau State, Christmas is no longer marked only by hymns and church services, but by the memory of 295 unarmed men, women, and children killed over four days in December 2023, a tragedy that continues to shape how the region enters the holiday season.



Rep. Riley Moore of West Virginia, a Catholic, completed a fact-finding mission to Nigeria earlier this month that was facilitated by local Christian groups on the ground.



“While in Benue, I met with dozens of Christians who were driven from their homes and subjected to horrific violence and now live in IDP camps,” Mr. Moore said in a statement posted on Facebook on Dec. 10. “They told harrowing stories that will remain with me for the rest of my life … There are more than 600,000 Christians in IDP camps in Benue State alone. These Christians should be able to live in their ancestral homeland without fear of genocidal Fulani.”

President Trump has raised the fate of Nigerian Christians in multiple statements since his return to office, describing conditions there as a “genocide.”  

Christians in Nigeria who spoke to The Washington Times off the record say they felt emboldened by Mr. Trump’s message to speak up for the rights of Christians. Others felt that such messaging was less divisive and that a sense of Nigerian nationalism is strong across much of the country.

Nigerian government officials have repeatedly rejected claims that Christians are being targeted for their faith. The issue is often framed as one of farmer-herder conflict or criminal banditry. 

At least 100,000 Christians and 60,000 Muslims had been killed since 2009, according to the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law.

“The recent diplomatic spat with the United States has been largely resolved through a firm, respectful engagement culminating in a strengthened partnership between America and Nigeria,” said Nigeria’s Minister of Information Mohammed Idris on Monday.

Sthen Akintayo is a Nigerian Christian entrepreneur who mixes his faith freely in his popular investment coaching work. He said he took solace in Mr. Trump’s comments regarding the persecution of Christians in the country.