There is nothing covert about what is happening to Christians in Nigeria. The men carrying out these attacks are not hiding their intentions. They are broadcasting them.
Survivors report that Islamist Fulani militants tell them directly, as they burn their homes and cut down their neighbors: “We will destroy all Christians.”
That is not the language of a land dispute or a tribal conflict, no matter how many times the Nigerian government has tried to frame it that way. That is a religious extermination campaign, and it is being carried out in the open, with near-total impunity, while most of the Western world looks the other way.
Of the 4,849 Christians killed for their faith worldwide in the past year, 3,490 of them, 72 percent of the global total, were killed in Nigeria. No other country on earth comes close to those numbers, and yet Nigeria rarely trends on social media.
It rarely leads the evening news. The massacres come and go, and the world moves on.
According to a report by the Society for International Human Rights, an average of 30 Christians were murdered every single day in Nigeria throughout 2025. Going back further, since 2009, an estimated 125,000 Christians have been killed. More than 19,100 churches have been burned to the ground, and over 1,100 Christian communities have been seized and occupied by jihadist forces.
To understand what those numbers look like on the ground, consider what happened in Benue State on the night of June 13, 2025.
Fulani militants surrounded the village of Yelwata after dark. Julius Joor, the village head, described what he witnessed — attackers shooting and killing people, forcing families out of their homes, pouring fuel, and setting houses on fire. When it was over, approximately 150 Christians were dead.
That was a single night, in a single village, in a country where this happens constantly.
These attacks do not even stop for the holiest days of the Christian calendar. On Palm Sunday 2026, militants entered the predominantly Christian community of Angwan Rukuba in Plateau State and opened fire on residents, killing at least 30 people.
Reports from nearby communities indicated that at least 10 more were killed the same day in separate attacks.
Palm Sunday. The day Christians around the world celebrate Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and Nigerian believers were being shot in the streets.
Sen. Josh Hawley has publicly labeled what is happening as genocide. Sen. Ted Cruz introduced the Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act. The Trump administration officially designated Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern for religious freedom violations.
These are meaningful steps, and they deserve recognition. But designations do not bury the dead, and accountability has so far remained largely on paper.
Hellbound and Down 