By Ebere Inyama
(Abuja – Federal Capital Territory) Findings by U.S lawmakers in a report presented to the U.S. Congress On 23 February 2026, align with months of testimonies by American missionaries and Nigerian thought leaders, TruthNigeria has learned.
The report is the result of months of investigation, including a bipartisan congressional fact-finding trip to Nigeria, hearings with expert witnesses, consultations with religious leaders, meetings with Internally Displaced Persons (IDP’s), and engagement with senior Nigerian government officials.
“Christians are subject to ongoing violent attacks from well-armed Fulani militias and terrorist groups, resulting in the death and murder of tens of thousands of Christians, including pastors and priests, the destruction of thousands of churches and schools, as well as kidnappings,” the report stated.
Among the actions recommended in that report include “the removal of Fulani militia from confiscated productive farmland and enable the voluntary return of displaced communities to their homes, capture illicit monies from Fulani militia members and use points of leverage to compel Fulani herdsmen to disarm.”
Nigerian government’s response
Responding to the report made by U.S Lawmakers, Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris, said there is no religious persecution in Nigeria.
Nigeria has repeatedly denied allegations of Christian genocide. Speaking during an interview with CBN on 2 February, 2026, Nigeria’s First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, pushed back on claims that Christians are being systematically exterminated.
Earlier in September 2025, Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, rejected accusations by US lawmakers that the government is facilitating violent attacks against Christians, arguing that resource-based tensions in some communities have been distorted to suit narratives of religious persecution by interest groups.
Nigerian Christian communities under siege
In the past 2 decades, attacks on Christian communities by the Fulani militia have led to the displacement of 151 villages in Plateau State, according to reports from ThisDay.
An investigation reportedly carried out by SaharaReporters indicate that no fewer than 44 farm settlements in Enugu state have been overrun by rampaging Fulani militia, while 40% of the land in Benue state have been forcefully taken over by them, according to Vanguard.
American missionaries accuse the Fulani tribe
“The actual official terrorist groups such as the Boko Haram and ISWAP are not the primary perpetrators who are killing Christians, rather it’s the Fulani militia”, said Alex Barbir while speaking during an interview with CBN’s Raj Nair
“They are the ones all across Nigeria from the North to the South, from the west to the east massacring, burning and literally cutting people to pieces”, he continued.
“The actual official terrorist groups (Boko Haram and ISWAP) are killing both Christians and Muslims in Borno state, some in Adamawa, Taraba, Yobe and Sokoto state, but those are limited to specific portions of that state, and it is not necessarily widespread”, he added.
Earlier in October 2025, two American missionaries, Judd Saul and Mike Arnold stirred a debate over acts of violence against Christians in Nigeria.
Judd Saul of Iowa, founder of Equipping the Persecuted, a nonprofit organization giving aid to displaced victims of ethnic cleansing, identified the Fulani tribe as perpetrators of violence against Christians in Nigeria.
“The primary driving force of the killing of Christians in Nigeria is the Fulani tribe”, Saul said on Tim Pool’s podcast, as reported by TruthNigeria in October, 2025.
“They have declared that Allah has given Nigeria to them and that they can do with Nigeria whatever they want”, he added.
In a statement presented to journalists, international observers, and human rights organizations in Abuja on 16 October, 2025, Arnold said that “while global attention often focuses on Boko Haram and ISWAP, the majority of killings and displacements across the Middle Belt region of Nigeria are, in fact, carried out by radical Islamist Fulani militias’.
Both Judd Saul of Iowa and Mike Arnold of Texas are film makers as well as sponsors of housing for displaced Nigerian Christians.
Ebere Inyama reports for TruthNigeria on conflict.
