Nigeria has faced two decades of escalating violence perpetrated by armed groups — whether terrorists or criminal gangs — resulting in tens of thousands of deaths and more than 3.5 million people displaced from their homes. Between May 2023 and May 2025 alone, over 10,000 people were killed, according to Amnesty International. Victims have included both Christians and Muslims, the Nigerian government says. This violence takes many forms, ranging from radical Islamism in the northeast to conflicts between herders and farmers in the central region, as well as so-called “bandits,” as they are known in Nigeria, who specialize in kidnapping, extortion, and murder.
On Saturday, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened military action if the Nigerian government did not take steps to stop the “atrocities” committed against the Christian population. “If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians! WARNING: THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT BETTER MOVE FAST!” the Republican posted on his social media account, Truth Social.
With this warning, Trump implicitly endorsed a narrative promoted by certain U.S. religious and conservative lobbying groups, which have long claimed that a “Christian genocide” is occurring in Nigeria. One prominent supporter of this view is Republican Senator Ted Cruz, who a month ago claimed on X that since 2009, 50,000 Christians had been “massacred” in the African country and 18,000 churches burned, accusing the Nigerian government of “ignoring it and even facilitating the mass murder of Christians.”
The Nigerian government has denied Trump’s allegations. “There is no systematic, intentional attempt either by the Nigerian government or by any serious group to target a particular religion,” Information Minister Idris Muhammed told Associated Press. Daniel Bwala, communications adviser to Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, highlighted the support the U.S. has provided Nigeria in its fight against terrorism and said a meeting between the two leaders was planned to clarify any disagreements. Armed groups, Bwala said, had killed people from all faiths, or none.
In mid-April, alleged members of the Fulani ethnic group carried out a series of attacks on Christian communities in the towns of Bokkos and Bassa in Plateau State, central Nigeria. At least 113 people were killed, around 300 homes were burned, and roughly 3,000 people were forced to flee. Two months later, armed men entered a mosque in Malumfashi, in the state of Katsina, in northern Nigeria, shooting worshipers and killing about 50 Muslims. In August, the attackers struck a nearby mosque again, murdering another 27 people. This is just a snapshot of the cycle of intercommunal violence afflicting the African country.
Nigeria has approximately 220 million inhabitants, half of whom are Muslim, with a large presence in the north of the country, and the other half Christian, concentrated mostly in the south. For decades, tensions have existed between Fulani herder groups, mostly Muslim, and sedentary farming communities, usually Christian, in the central states. These tensions are driven by water scarcity and access to grazing land, pressures that have been worsened by climate change. Far from decreasing, the conflict has increasingly erupted in violence.
According to an Amnesty International report published last May, at least 10,217 people were killed in armed attacks across the states of Benue, Edo, Katsina, Kebbi, Plateau, Sokoto, and Zamfara. “The authorities’ failure to hold suspected perpetrators accountable is fueling a cycle of impunity that is making everyone feel unsafe. Time is running out, as gunmen, bandits and insurgents are ramping up attacks daily. The nationwide bloodshed must end now,” said Isa Sanusi, director of Amnesty International Nigeria, in the report.
He argued that President Tinubu, who took office in 2023, has failed to end this violence, despite having promised to do so during his campaign. “Things have only gotten worse, as the authorities continue to fail to protect the rights to life, physical integrity, liberty and the security of tens of thousands of people across the country,” he added.
Criminal gangs sow terror
While the violence in Benue and Plateau can be attributed to the herder-farmer conflict, in the northern states — such as Kebbi, Katsina, Kaduna, and Sokoto — most deaths are linked to armed criminal groups who terrorize the population with looting, kidnappings, and indiscriminate killings. In this region, Muslims are the most affected because they make up the majority of the population.
Another major hotspot is the northeast, particularly the states of Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa, where Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) are clashing with the Armed Forces and conducting a massacre of civilians, especially in the Lake Chad region. The victims are often Muslim.
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