An estimated 30,000 armed Fulani militants are operating across Nigeria in groups ranging from 10 to 1,000 members.
This is according to the May 2026 report released by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.
The report stated that the militants have become some of the deadliest non-state actors driving religious freedom violations in Nigeria.
Titled “Nonstate Violators of Religious Freedom in Nigeria: Fulani Militants,” the report said attacks carried out by armed actors of Fulani ethnic background intensified insecurity across the Middle Belt and Southern regions, leaving thousands dead, displacing communities and deepening tensions between religious groups.
” Violence by Fulani militants caused the highest number of deaths among all religious communities in Nigeria over the last year as compared to attacks by organised insurgent groups and criminal gangs,” the report stated.
The commission said many of the attacks were directed at Christian communities, though Muslim communities had also suffered raids, killings and kidnappings.
According to the report, While the groups lack centralised leadership, USCIRF stated that some collaborate with criminal gangs and extremist organisations.
The report explained, “These actors operate in a variety of contexts and with a multiplicity of likely aims and motivations.
“While many Fulani militant groups wage independent attacks, others periodically coordinate with a wide range of other actors, from conventional bandit gangs seeking financial enrichment to recognised terrorist organisations that espouse a violent interpretation of Islam.”
The commission noted that militants frequently attack isolated rural communities at night using motorcycles, automatic weapons and machetes.
“They often wield machetes and descend on vulnerable communities during the night, eliciting terror as a way to force victims to quickly leave and to achieve greater control of desired land,” the report said.