US Acknowledges Violence in Nigeria Not Driven By Religion Alone, Says 1.3m Displaced in Middle Belt
Sunday EhigiatorThe United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has acknowledged that violent attacks by Fulani militants in Nigeria were not driven by religion alone but by overlapping motives.
In a May 2026 report titled ‘Non-state Violators of Religious Freedom in Nigeria: Fulani Militants,’ the US also acknowledged that the violence affected both Christians and Muslims.
While stating that 1.3 million Nigerians were displaced in the Middle Belt, the report added that while Christian communities have frequently come under assault, Muslim communities have also suffered killings, kidnappings, and attacks on religious sites.
The US report examined the role of Fulani militant groups in worsening religious freedom conditions in Nigeria and the response of government authorities.According to the report, “armed actors from a Fulani ethnic background have perpetrated some of the most visible and deadly attacks on religious communities—often but not exclusively against Christians—in Nigeria.”The report stressed that violent attacks have affected followers of both religions, saying: “Fulani assailants have not spared Muslims, raiding herders’ cattle and violently attacking non-Fulani Muslim communities.”It added that many militants have also “targeted Christian communities in the Middle Belt and, increasingly, the South, burning homes and churches as well as kidnapping, raping, and murdering.”USCIRF said violence by Fulani militants had become one of the deadliest sources of insecurity affecting religious communities in the country.
