A fresh wave of violence has swept through Benue State, Nigeria, where Fulani herdsmen killed four Christians on Monday, 12 January, and at least nine others in a series of attacks between 5–6 January, according to local residents and officials.
The latest assault struck Otobi Akpa village in Otukpo County just after midnight. Resident Franca Akipu said armed herdsmen stormed homes while families slept, killing four Christians — Ochi Igbade, Eje Uzu, Alinko and Achibi — and leaving dozens missing. “They shot at people who were sleeping,” she said, asking for prayers for her traumatised community.
Otobi Akpa has been targeted before. On 15 April last year, 13 Christians were killed and 50 homes burned when armed herdsmen invaded at dusk, community leader Adikwu Ogbe said.
The January attacks extended across multiple counties. In Kwande County, five Christians were killed on 6 January while working on their farms in Udeku Maav‑Ya village. Local council chairman Tersua Yarkwan said the area has endured “persistent” assaults on predominantly Christian farming communities.
A day earlier, four members of the same family were killed in Ikyaghev village, Guma County. “The farmers were working on their farms when the herdsmen attacked them around 10 a.m.,” said Guma Council Chairman Maurice Orwough.
Further violence was reported on 8 January in Ukum County, where armed herdsmen attacked Adogo village, destroying crops and forcing families to flee. December saw similar brutality: a funeral ambushed in Okpokwu County on 30 December, and multiple Christian villages attacked earlier that month in Ado and Logo counties.
Local leaders describe the pattern as systematic. “Deliberate and systematic attacks against Christians… have resulted in loss of lives and destruction of property,” said Agatu Council Chairman James Melvin Ejeh.
International reports echo these concerns. The UK’s All‑Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom of Religion or Belief notes that while most Fulani are not extremists, some factions adopt strategies similar to Boko Haram and ISWAP, deliberately targeting Christian communities. Nigeria remains one of the world’s most dangerous countries for Christians, with Open Doors reporting that 69 percent of all Christians killed for their faith in the past year were Nigerian.
Benue State continues to sit at the epicentre of this escalating crisis.
