In 2018, President Trump had met in the White House with Nigeria’s then-President Muhammadu Buhari, the son of a Fulani chieftain, and said he was “deeply concerned by religious violence” and raised “the burning of churches and the killing and persecution of Christians.” With the persecution continuing unabated, the State Department designated Nigeria as a CPC in 2020 but months later rescinded it under the Biden administration, which had an economic determinist theory of this violence: it was a “clash” between farmers and herders over scarce resources brought about by climate change. In terms of local populations, 6.5 times as many Christians were murdered as Muslims.” It cites the Fulani militias as having Christian farmers as “their special target” for what it describes as “jihadist violence.” In any event, for CPC purposes, the essential fact is that Nigeria’s government is not trying to stop the Fulani militias whose “special target” is the Christian community, while it deploys its military forces to fight against Boko Haram and the terror groups in the north who kill moderate Muslims along with Christians. On October 21, the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need issued its annual World survey, which reported the stunning finding that “Nigerian Christians in the Middle Belt are bearing the brunt of violent attacks” from those identified as “Fulani militants,” and “[t]he number and ferocity of the attacks on Christian villages have led some experts to conclude that these incursions are a deliberate land grab to remove Christians and Islamize the region.” Earlier, Open Doors, the evangelical research group issued its annual survey for 2025, which concluded that “More believers are killed for their faith in Nigeria than anywhere else in the world,” and it identified Fulani militants, as among those attacking Nigerian Christians, making the key observation that “[t]he government’s failure to protect Christians and punish perpetrators has only strengthened the militants’ influence.” Myself and dozens of other American religious freedom advocates sent an appeal to President Trump specifically asking him to designate Nigeria as a CPC on October 24.
Author: December 9, 2025
Published at: 2025-12-09 00:00:00
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