The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has alleged that about 30,000 armed militants are operating across Nigeria.
In groups ranging from 10 to 1,000 members, the May 2026 report, titled “Nonstate Violators of Religious Freedom in Nigeria: Fulani Militants,” stated that the militants have become some of the deadliest non-state actors driving religious freedom violations in Nigeria.
According to the report, attacks carried out by the armed actors intensified insecurity across the Middle Belt and Southern regions, leaving thousands dead, displacing communities, and deepening tensions between religious groups.
“Violence by militants caused the highest number of deaths among all religious communities in Nigeria over the last year as compared to attacks by organised insurgent groups and criminal gangs,” the report stated.mus01 / 1:01
The commission said many of the attacks were directed at Christian communities, though Muslim communities had also suffered raids, killings, and kidnappings.
According to the report, while the groups lack centralised leadership, USCIRF stated that some collaborate with criminal gangs and extremist organisations.
The report explained, “These actors operate in a variety of contexts and with a multiplicity of likely aims and motivations.
“While many militant groups wage independent attacks, others periodically coordinate with a wide range of other actors, from conventional bandit gangs seeking financial enrichment to recognised terrorist organisations that espouse a violent interpretation of Islam.”
The commission noted that militants frequently attack isolated rural communities at night using motorcycles, automatic weapons, and machetes.
“They often wield machetes and descend on vulnerable communities during the night, eliciting terror as a way to force victims to quickly leave and to achieve greater control of desired land,” the report said.
USCIRF explained that attacks by the militants had displaced at least 1.3 million people in the Middle Belt, forcing many into overcrowded camps lacking adequate sanitation and security.
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The report detailed several attacks carried out in 2025 and early 2026, including mass killings in Benue and Plateau states.
“One attack in Benue in June 2025 killed at least 200 people, including internally displaced persons living in a Catholic mission,” the report said.
USCIRF also cited the massacre in Yelwata, Benue State, in 2025, where more than 200 Christians, “mostly sleeping women and children,” were reportedly killed and over 3,000 people displaced.
The commission said militants deliberately timed some attacks to coincide with Christian religious holidays.
“Militant actors have often carried out operations during Christian holidays such as Christmas or Easter to further maximise the psychological impact,” the report stated.
It added that in February 2026, suspected militants reportedly killed at least 32 people in Niger State and attacked Holy Trinity Parish in the Kafanchan Diocese of Kaduna State, killing three people and abducting 11 others, including parish priest Father Nathaniel Asuwaye.
The report also documented kidnappings targeting both churches and mosques.
“In February 2026, armed men kidnapped an imam and seven worshipers from a mosque in Plateau,” USCIRF stated, adding that the kidnappers demanded a ransom of N16m.
The commission said Palm Sunday and Easter attacks in April 2026 left dozens dead in Plateau, Kaduna, and Benue states.
“On Easter Sunday, militants reportedly killed five worshippers at two churches in Kaduna State while abducting 31 others,” the report stated.
USCIRF said conflicting narratives surrounding the violence had complicated efforts to determine the motivations behind the attacks.
The commission highlighted, “Some observers have argued that environmental and economic factors are the driving force behind militants’ acts of violence, while others have suggested that these actors are engaged in a concerted campaign of outright genocide against non-Muslims, especially Christians.
“In fact, multiple and overlapping factors, including religion in many cases, likely spur militants to attack communities or individuals.”
The report criticised the federal and state authorities for what it described as inadequate responses to the violence.
“Victims have long reported that security forces are consistently slow to respond to attacks on their communities,” the commission stated.
USCIRF further stated that some Christian advocates accused security agencies of allegedly showing favouritism toward Muslim communities during investigations and security operations.
The report noted that governors from 11 states launched an initiative in June 2025 to establish ranch lands for herders in a bid to reduce clashes over grazing routes and farmland.
At the federal level, USCIRF linked renewed Federal Government’s action to the October 2025 decision by the US President Donald Trump to designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern over religious freedom violations.
Following the designation, President Bola Tinubu classified kidnappers and violent armed groups, including Fulani militants, as “terrorists” in December 2025, the commission stated.
The report said the security agencies rescued 309 hostages in January 2026 during operations in Kogi and Kwara states, arresting 129 suspected Fulani militants and killing 55 others.
USCIRF said the US Congress introduced the Nigeria Religious Freedom and Accountability Act of 2026 in February, proposing sanctions against MACBAN over allegations of involvement in severe religious freedom violations.
USCIRF also highlighted growing scrutiny of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria.
The organisation has faced allegations from Christian leaders that it failed to stop militant violence and land invasions. However, MACBAN denied supporting criminal activity.
“We do not support, condone, harbour, finance, or protect any form of criminality, extremism or violence,” the association said, according to the report.
Despite recent security measures and peace initiatives, the commission warned that violence remained widespread.
“As a result, central Nigeria remains entrenched in an intense, daily, and seemingly perpetual crisis of insecurity,” the report concluded, advising the federal and several state governments to “create broader underlying conditions that are more conducive to the safe practice of religious freedom.”
