According to a report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom published in May 2026, there are an estimated 30,000 armed Fulani terrorists in groups of 10 to 1,000 operating across Nigeria.
The report said the militants have shown to be one of the deadliest non-state actors perpetrating religious freedom violations in Nigeria. The PUNCH reports.
The report titled “Nonstate Violators of Religious Freedom in Nigeria: Fulani Militants” said attacks carried out by armed actors of Fulani ethnic background intensified insecurity across the Middle Belt and Southern regions leaving thousands dead, displacing communities and deepening tensions between religious groups.
“Fulani militant violence accounted for the highest number of deaths among all religious communities in Nigeria over the last year in comparison to attacks by organised insurgent groups and criminal gangs,” the research said.
The Commission stated bulk of the attacks had targeted Christian villages, although Muslim groups had also suffered raids, deaths and kidnappings.
The groups had no centralised leadership, the report said, although some worked with criminal gangs and extremist outfits, USCIRF said.
“These actors operate in a variety of environments and with a multiplicity of probable goals and motivations,” the paper said.
“Some Fulani militant groups act independently, but others plan attacks along with a variety of other groups, from conventional bandit gangs looking to line their pockets to acknowledged terrorist groups who espouse an extremist version of Islam.”
Militants often assault remote rural towns at night with motorcycles, automatic guns and machetes, the Commission said.
“They often use machetes and strike vulnerable communities at night, instilling terror as a way to force victims to leave quickly and to gain greater control over coveted land,” the report added.
Attacks by Fulani militants and other armed groups have displaced at least 1.3 million people in the Middle Belt, driving them into overcrowded camps with inadequate sanitation and security, USCIRF said.
Several attacks were recorded in the report in 2025 and early 2026, including the mass killings in Benue and Plateau states.
An attack in Benue in June 2025 killed at least 200 people, including internally displaced persons, sheltering at a Catholic mission, the report added.
The USCIRF also pointed to the 2025 massacre in Yelwata, Benue State, where more than 200 Christians, “mostly sleeping women and children,” were purportedly slain and nearly 3,000 families relocated.
Some attacks were timed to coincide with Christian religious holidays, the Commission added.
The report said operations have often been carried out by militant actors on Christian holidays such as Christmas or Easter in order to further optimize the psychological damage.
In February 2026, suspected Fulani militants reportedly killed at least 32 people in Niger State and assaulted Holy Trinity Parish in the Kafanchan Diocese of Kaduna State, killing three people and abducting 11 others, including parish priest Father Nathaniel Asuwaye.
Kidnappings of churches and mosques were also noted in the report.
“In February 2026, armed men abducted an imam and seven worshippers from a mosque in Plateau and demanded a ransom of N16m, USCIRF said.
Attacks on Palm Sunday and Easter in April 2026 killed scores in Plateau, Kaduna and Benue states, the Commission reported.
“Five worshippers were reportedly killed by Fulani militants in two churches in Kaduna State while 31 others were abducted on Easter Sunday,” the article said.
USCIRF said different accounts surrounding the violence had made it difficult to discern the intentions behind the attacks.
While some observers have ascribed the violence committed by Fulani militants to environmental and economic factors, others have argued that these actors are involved in a coordinated campaign of outright genocide against non-Muslims, especially Christians,” the Commission noted.
“Religion among other multiple and overlapping factors are likely to drive Fulani militants to attack communities or people in many cases.
The report criticized federal and state officials for what it called weak reactions to the violence.
“Victims have long complained that security forces have been consistently slow to respond to attacks on their communities,” the commission said.
Some Christian activists complained that security authorities favoured Muslim neighborhoods in investigations and security operations, USCIRF said.
In June 2025, 11 state governors began an effort aimed at creating ranch areas for herders, the paper said, in an attempt to ease tensions over grazing routes and agriculture.
At the federal level, USCIRF linked a renewed Federal Government action with the October 2025 decision by US President Donald Trump to name Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern for religious freedom concerns.
The report said President Bola Tinubu in December 2025 designated kidnappers and dangerous armed organizations, including Fulani militants, as “terrorists” after the designation.
The report stated 309 hostages were rescued in operations in Kogi and Kwara states in January 2026 by the security services, with 129 suspected Fulani militants arrested and 55 others killed.
USCIRF also noted increased scrutiny of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria.
Christian leaders have accused the organisation of not stopping militant bloodshed and land invasions. But MACBAN denied that it was encouraging crime.
The association added, according to the report: “We do not support, condone, harbor, finance or protect any form of criminality, extremism or violence.”
In February, the US Congress presented the Nigeria Religious Freedom and Accountability Act of 2026, proposing sanctions against MACBAN over allegations of involvement in significant religious freedom violations, USCIRF claimed.
The commission said that despite recent security measures and peace attempts, violence remains rampant.
“Central Nigeria continues to be trapped in a fierce, ongoing, and seemingly endless crisis of insecurity,” the report said.
The Commission also said that the situation will likely continue “until the federal government and a number of state governments have established broader basic conditions more conducive to the safe exercise of religious freedom.”
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