Christian Solidarity International’s Joel Veldkamp, Ph.D., discusses the streak of Fulani killings of Christians in Nigeria during an interview (below) for CBN News with Billy Hallowell.
Watch the interview on CBN News
On April 17, CSI’s director for public advocacy, Joel Veldkamp, spoke with Billy Hallowell on CBN News about the recent massacres of indigenous Christians in Nigeria. Over the past few weeks, Muslim Fulani militias have attacked Christian villages almost every day, marking “the worst attacks we’ve seen in Nigeria in almost a year and a half,” Veldkamp told Hallowell. Since March 24, the attacks have killed a total of at least 120 people in Christian villages. In addition to those killed, estimates indicate over 7,000 have been displaced from their homes.
Attacks increase around Christian holidays
On Palm Sunday alone, Fulani jihadists killed 56 people. The timing does not seem to be a coincidence, Veldkamp says: Prior to this spring, the largest recent devastating attack happened during Christmas in 2023; before that, on Pentecost in 2022.
“The attacks on Christian villages become more ferocious” around Christian holidays, comments Veldkamp.
Stories from survivors
The week after the latest massacre, Veldkamp recounts some of the chilling stories shared by CSI staff member Franco Majok.
Nenche Steven, a seven-year-old boy, was the only member of his family to survive a gruesome machete attack on Palm Sunday. He is currently in the hospital awaiting surgery for serious wounds to the back of his neck.
Naomi Ezekiel Gama watched her husband, who pastored a local Anglican church, die in front of their home. Fulani militants rode up on motorbikes and shot him while he was outside for an afternoon nap. Naomi must now raise their five children alone.
Majok, who has extensive experience working in conflict zones, worked with CSI’s local Nigerian partners to visit survivors at the hospital in Jos, the capital of Plateau State in central Nigeria. For CSI staff to be present on the ground, “there is an element of risk involved, but it’s a risk we happily accept because it’s our duty to be present with the suffering body of Christ,” remarked Veldkamp.
Today, the suffering in the Middle Belt region is great.
Fulani militias gain land in the Middle Belt
Muslims from the Fulani ethnic group have been “the ruling military class in Nigeria” since British colonization, explains Veldkamp. The British used the Fulani as “middlemen” to govern other Nigerian tribes. After Nigeria gained independence, the Fulani remained in power.
For Fulani Muslims, control of the fertile land of the Middle Belt region is an appealing goal. Nationally, Nigeria’s population is roughly half Christian and half Muslim, but the Plateau State has long been predominantly Christian, Veldkamp notes. Over the past six years, Muslims have been gaining more and more land through systematic Fulani attacks on Christian villages. Fulani militias drive out local Christian ethnic groups and then settle on the land themselves.
Need for U.S. response to Nigerian government’s inaction
As of April 17, the Nigerian government has taken no action to arrest the attackers, says Veldkamp, despite a strong military presence in the Plateau State. For the Nigerian government, the prospect of culling out Christian opposition in the Middle Belt offers a convenient incentive to ignore the violence.
What can the U.S. do to support the people of Nigeria? President Trump has appointed Congressman Mark Walker as the new Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, and the Trump administration must now move forward with action on the violence happening in Nigeria. Most urgently, Nigeria must be added back onto the U.S. Department of State’s list of Countries of Particular Concern, says Veldkamp.
Support immediate relief today
Displaced Nigerian Christians are urgently seeking temporary shelter and emergency supplies. CSI is supporting local Christian partners in Nigeria working to provide tents, food, and medicine to those displaced, as well as materials to begin rebuilding houses burned down during the attacks.
