By Khaleed Yazeed
The Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA) has just released a report that should shake the foundations of every government, every international organization, and every conscience that claims to care about human life. Between 2020 and 2025, Nigeria recorded 79,323 deaths linked to terrorism-related violence. That is an average of 36 people killed every single day. Of these, 42,033 were innocent civilians, ordinary men, women, and children who woke up one morning and never saw the sunset.
The data from ORFA reveals a devastating truth that the Fulani elite have spent years trying to bury. Armed groups classified as “Fulani Terror Groups” were responsible for a staggering 44 percent of all civilian deaths, amounting to 18,577 killings. In contrast, Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), the groups that have dominated Western headlines and consumed international counter-terrorism resources, combined accounted for only 12 percent of civilian deaths . As ORFA Senior Research Analyst Frans Vierhout stated: “Violence linked to Fulani militias is the dominant force behind Nigeria’s death toll. The Western preoccupation with Boko Haram is, at best, misleading. Nigeria is incubating a terror network which the outside world has yet to acknowledge”.
The Attack on Muslims by Political Islamists
The report makes clear that Muslim civilians are not spared from this violence. Between 2020 and 2025, 13,224 Muslims were killed and 15,272 Muslims were abducted. These are not accidental casualties; they are the result of a systematic campaign by Fulani militias and political Islamists who are willing to sacrifice even their co-religionists in their quest for land, power, and dominance.
The ORFA report documented 34,773 civilian abductions during the six-year period, with Fulani Terror Groups accounting for 43 percent of these kidnappings, and Unidentified Terror Groups responsible for 49 percent . The report also found that 75 percent of civilians killed died during attacks on farming communities, raids that involved abduction, sexual violence, and the systematic destruction of homes and livelihoods. These are not isolated incidents; they are part of a coordinated campaign.
According to security expert Steven Kefas, the Fulani Ethnic Militia’s activities are methodical and low-profile, with 79 percent of attacks being land-based raids on farming settlements that focus on abduction, killings, sexual violence, and arson. The violence is predominantly concentrated in the North-Central zone and Southern Kaduna, areas that have suffered significantly from Fulani attacks while military resources are concentrated in the North-East and North-West . This is not a security failure; it is a security choice.
The Captivity by Creed System
ORFA’s research revealed a disturbing pattern they call “Captivity by Creed”, a system where Muslim and Christian hostages are treated differently from the moment of capture. According to the report, Muslim captives generally face lower ransom demands and less violence, while Christian captives face higher ransom demands, a greater likelihood of execution, and in the case of women, a higher risk of sexual violence. As Steven Kefas stated: “From the moment of capture, Muslim and Christian hostages enter different realities. It is not about individual captors. It is a system that is consistent across multiple states, armed groups and years of survivor testimony”.
This is not a random pattern; it is a deliberate system of sorting by creed. The 2025 USCIRF report confirmed that violence by Fulani militants caused the highest number of deaths among all religious communities in Nigeria, with Fulani militants targeting Christian farming communities in the Middle Belt and increasingly the South, burning homes and churches, and kidnapping, raping, and murdering. Even Muslim civilians are not spared, as Fulani militants and political Islamists have been known to attack Muslim communities that resist their domination or refuse to support their agenda.
The Role of Political Islamists and the Izala Movement
The eyewitness account in the ORFA report points to a specific driver: the Izala movement, which spread from Saudi Arabia and combined with Fulani ethnic supremacy to capture the political establishment in the North . According to the eyewitness: “The Izala movement, combined with Fulani ethnic supremacy, captured the political establishment in the north. It led to the formation of an ethno-religious terrorist group called the Fulani Ethnic Militia, which began to reign terror on non-Fulani Muslim civilians and Christian civilians alike”.
A 2023 study by Nigerian scholars on the herder-farmer conflict in Plateau state found that the great majority of indigenous people from non-Fulani ethnic groups believe that the motives for violence by Fulani herders are land grabbing, jihad, and Fulanization, rather than cattle rustling or resource conflict. This is not about grazing; it is about conquest. The same study found that Fulani leaders in Plateau state have expressed the view that Muslim leaders who support peace with Christians are not “true believers” and have incited their followers to target non-Muslims.
The Government’s Complicity and Silence
The Nigerian government has been complicit in covering up this violence. According to the ORFA report, the government has been covering up the attacks as “communal clashes” due to climate change. Ethnoreligious violence puts Nigeria in a bad light internationally, scaring off investors and limiting foreign aid . As reported by Genocide Watch, Church leaders and analysts have criticized the government and military for consistently describing Fulani jihadist massacres of Christians as “communal clashes” or “herder farmer disputes,” ignoring the explicit religious targeting. Rev. David Azzaman sharply noted: “The military refers to these attacks as communal clashes or ‘farmer/herder clashes’… What is going on… is genocide”.
In December 2016, then-Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai made a public admission that he had identified the killers as Fulani, including foreign Fulani fighters from Cameroon, Niger Republic, Chad, Mali, and Senegal. Rather than pursuing legal accountability, El-Rufai disclosed that his government sent emissaries across borders to appeal to these individuals to stop the killings because he, as governor, was Fulani like them. A governor openly admitting that he is appeasing killers because of ethnic kinship is not governance; it is surrender.
The International Complicity
Yet despite the rising toll, Fulani militias have vanished from international terror rankings like the Global Terrorism Index (GTI). According to Kefas, their violence is mis-categorized as “communal” or “ethnic” conflict, making it invisible to international security frameworks and humanitarian aid. The GTI uses specific criteria to define terrorist incidents, but the framing of Fulani militia violence as communal or ethnic clashes rather than terrorism has contributed to their exclusion from global terror rankings, which has real-world consequences affecting international aid allocation, security cooperation, and diplomatic pressure.
Save the Persecuted Christians, via Truth Nigeria, emphasized that global advocacy is undermined when Western governments echo religious neutral narratives. Dede Laugesen stated: “Nothing will change until the Nigerian people unite with one voice… It’s not climate change… This is genocide pure and simple. All who try to explain it otherwise are culpable”.
Conclusion: The Awakening Has Begun
The ORFA report has been submitted to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief. The question now is whether the world will act, or whether it will continue to look away. As security expert Steven Kefas concluded, the international community must grapple with uncomfortable questions about selective attention to terrorism and the consequences of allowing certain forms of mass violence to remain invisible. The 79,323 deaths represent more than statistics, they are fathers, mothers, children, and community leaders whose lives were cut short while the world looked elsewhere.
The Hausa people are waking up. The Middle Belt is stirring. The Orange Union is rising. And the Fulani elite are running out of time. The evidence is clear, and it demands accountability. The dead are watching. The truth is a weapon. And we are learning to use it.
Khaleed Yazeed
Founder, Wakilin Yamma Youth Development Network
Katsina State, Nigeria
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