SANTA ANA, Calif., Dec. 19, 2025—Global Christian Relief staff have returned from conflict areas in Nigeria’s Middle Belt with video, survivor testimony and on-the-ground reporting that directly challenge claims that the conflict has no religious motivation. The findings make clear that there is genuine intent to disable and wipe out Christianity in the region. Extremists in the Northern part of Nigeria have taken advantage of the pre-existing land and resource tensions, radicalizing and equipping the Fulani herders, motivating them in deliberate attacks on Christians in the Middle Belt, where governance is weak and impunity is common.

Global Christian Relief, through interviews with attack survivors and location visits in November 2025, can confirm that the attacks have strong religious motivations against Christians. In attacks, pastors and their homes are being deliberately prioritized before other targets, with churches destroyed, burned and defaced. Entire Christian villages have been emptied and overtaken. Children are now showing signs of severe trauma. Through it all, security forces have failed to protect communities, often due to corruption.

Christian communities in Nigeria’s Plateau State are experiencing coordinated attacks by armed groups, generally during the night, who are attempting to burn homes, systematically destroy churches, kill pastors and Christians, and sometimes even displace villages. This is not the simple farmer-herder clash that the government makes it out to be. The pre-existing farmer-herder tensions have been taken advantage of by extremists to create a much more deadly and religiously motivated conflict. Survivors of these attacks are consistently reporting they are being targeted because they are Christians and were told directly, “Christians must leave this place.” 

Across the six villages Global Christian Relief staff recently visited, the following patterns and incidents were consistent across all locations:

• Nighttime attacks
• Pastors and their homes were targeted first to intentionally weaken Christian communities
• Churches were burned or defaced, while some non-Christian buildings remained
• Homes and other buildings were attacked
• Families have been displaced
• Children are now experiencing severe trauma
• Christian farmland is being occupied
• Security breakdown with the security forces often unresponsive, while some units reportedly were bribed. Attacks often took place as soon as security forces left the area.

Global Christian Relief came to the conclusion through multiple witnesses verifying identical patterns, interviews with pastors, widows, elders, and survivors, and exclusive video and photographs from attack sites (available upon request). Eyewitnesses from various villages shared the following testimonies:

Reverend Yakubu described the night that nine people were killed inside his pastoral home while he hid with the goats and his wife hid in the bathroom, saying, “We were hearing their noise, hearing their cries before they killed them. And they killed them. They cut them to pieces. They burned them.” He thought security would help, but he explained, “Thinking that the soldiers were here, we didn't know they had gone away. That is why people entered one house to another, killing people, slaughtering people, very comfortably. Nobody touched them."

In each community, Global Christian Relief saw similar trends, with a pastor stating, “They are attacking us… also for religious purposes. Most of them, when they come to attack, they shout ‘Allahu Akbar!’… We bury two, three people almost every week. That is like a holy war. They are fighting a jihad.”

Pastor Ezekiel, a pastor who became famous after speaking out about the situation for Christians in Nigeria, emphasizes that they have been facing genocide. In an exclusive interview the Global Christian Relief team had with him in his home, he shared that, “Eighty-five Christians were killed in Kufang village… They renamed the place just to claim the land. Here in Nigeria, we don’t have freedom of worship… In the far north… they can’t give you one single plot to build a church.” While the Nigerian government has denied a genocide, Pastor Ezekiel says, "They came out openly and denied there is genocide. While inside their conscience, they know there is genocide."

More than 3.6 million Nigerian Christians now live as strangers in their own country after being driven out by extremist, religiously motivated violence. In Nigeria, the south has one of the world’s largest Christian populations (6th globally), while the north includes one of the largest Muslim populations (5th globally). The country is roughly half Christian, half Muslim, concentrated largely along regional lines.

“For years, Nigeria has flown under the radar of many who discounted what was happening, but now the evidence is indisputable,” said Brian Orme, CEO of Global Christian Relief. “Christians in Nigeria are being specifically targeted and persecuted because they refuse to deny their belief in Jesus. Today the real atrocity is doing nothing. Now is the time to act to bring support and ultimately peace to this country. Global Christian Relief has been supporting Christians in Nigeria for years, but we cannot do it alone. The real hope is in what we all do together.”

Global Christian Relief is helping to rebuild homes and churches in several villages in Nigeria that were targeted in recent violent attacks. In Nigeria, local Global Christian Relief partners serve daily in displacement camps, forgotten villages and communities to help them rebuild from attacks, often at great personal cost. People can support this work through donations or a monthly partnership.

Global Christian Relief continues to advocate for U.S. support in Nigeria and for Americans to be informed, share stories from Nigeria and stand with Nigeria’s Christians. To financially support Nigerian Christians with clean water, trauma counseling, schooling and supplies, and support to start a small business, information is available at this link.

Global Christian Relief responds to crises with emergency aid, safe housing, legal support, Bibles and training to strengthen Christians. It also shares news and firsthand accounts of persecution to inspire American Christians to pray, support and stand with the global church. No Christian should be isolated or forgotten in the global community. In 2025, Global Christian Relief reached more than 2.1 million Christians with support, sent 89,010 Bibles, gave 34,258 medical checkups and financed 556 businesses in 22 countries.

Media Opportunities Upon Request:

• High-resolution photos of burned churches, destroyed homes and displaced families
• Video b-roll from multiple villages, including interviews and walkthroughs
• Interview with Brian Orme, CEO of Global Christian Relief

About Global Christian Relief

Global Christian Relief’s mission is focused on creating a movement of prayer and support for persecuted Christians worldwide. In addition to equipping the Western church to advocate and pray for the persecuted, Global Christian Relief works directly with partners in the most restrictive countries to protect and encourage Christians threatened by religious discrimination and violence. For more information, visit
globalchristianrelief.org.

Media Contacts:
Addison Peevy, 678.230.1925
Laura McGowan, 847.347.5206
Christine Cape, 404.545.0085