7/1/2025 Nigeria (International Christian Concern) — St. Joseph’s Parish in Layin Minista, in Malumfashi Local Government Area of Nigeria’s Katsina state, has endured persistent attacks by armed Muslim Fulani extremists since 2020. The violence, often targeting Christian villagers in Gidan Namune and surrounding areas, has led to mass displacement, the collapse of rural farming, and the abduction of dozens of believers.

The Rev. Father Stephen Solomon Shidi, who oversees the parish, said the insecurity has made daily life nearly impossible for many.

“We used to live peacefully with one another before the outbreak of insecurity in the community,” Shidi said in a statement shared with journalists in Jos by the Rev. Father Chibuzor Victor Somadina, director of communication for the Catholic Diocese of Katsina.

The violence has intensified in recent months, with attackers storming farmlands and abducting Christians who defied orders to stop planting crops.

“The bandit leader declared that no one would be allowed to farm, since they were not allowed to do so in the area,” Shidi said.

Despite the threats and violence, many Christian farmers risked returning to their land to provide for their families. The attackers responded by raiding farms, shooting villagers, destroying crops, and kidnapping men, women, and children.

One leader of the extremists confronted one of the abducted men, whose name has been withheld for security reasons, and ordered him to choose between saving his own life or those of his daughters, Shidi said. Before the Christian could respond with his answer, the leader changed his mind and reportedly said, “If I leave the man with his daughters, he will be killed.”

While the fate of those abducted remains uncertain, Shidi called on Nigerian security forces to act swiftly to locate and rescue those taken. He also appealed to humanitarian organizations and people of goodwill to assist the injured with medical expenses and hospital bills, and to provide food aid to the displaced.

Organized Islamic Fulani terror groups operate across northwestern and northcentral Nigeria. These groups, often equipped with military-grade weapons, have been responsible for thousands of killings, kidnappings, and village raids during the past five years. Unlike Islamic terror groups like Boko Haram or ISWAP, these groups typically operate without a stated religious ideology. Still, their activities have disproportionately affected Christian minority communities in majority-Muslim northern Nigeria.

According to data collected by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), more than 17,000 Christians were killed and more than 8,000 abducted across Nigeria between January 2020 and January 2024. Many of these attacks have occurred in rural farming communities, such as those in Katsina, Kaduna, Zamfara, Niger, and Plateau states.

“Christian farming villages are increasingly the targets of these attacks,” Intersociety said in a 2024 report, which noted that abductions are often followed by ransom demands or forced conversions. Victims who survive captivity have reported being held in forest encampments for months at a time.

In the Malumfashi region, the situation has left many families with no option but to flee. Shidi estimates that numerous villages have been nearly emptied during the past three years. Some displaced villagers are now living in overcrowded temporary shelters in nearby towns, with little access to food, medical care, or education for their children.

Local sources confirmed that farms in the area are being abandoned despite the current planting season.

“People no longer feel safe going to their farms. The few that do so are doing it out of desperation, knowing fully well they could be attacked or taken,” said a lay leader in the parish, who asked not to be named for security reasons.

The Nigerian government has deployed military and police units in some parts of the Northwest, but many rural communities remain without any meaningful security presence. Fulani extremists are known to operate freely in forested areas and often escape with their victims before authorities arrive.

Shidi has joined several Nigerian Catholic leaders in urging the government to take more decisive action against armed groups targeting civilians. In his latest statement, he appealed directly to security agencies to station personnel in vulnerable farming communities, such as Gidan Namune.

“We are asking the government to protect its citizens, to ensure that people can return to their farms and live in peace,” Shidi said.

He also appealed to international humanitarian organizations and donors for assistance with food supplies, medicine for the wounded, and aid for the displaced.

“Many families have lost everything — farms, homes, loved ones,” he added. “They need urgent help to survive this crisis.”
Katsina is not the only state grappling with this wave of violence. Attacks by Fulani extremists have become routine across northwest Nigeria, particularly in Zamfara, Kaduna, Sokoto, and Niger states. According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), there were more than 2,200 incidents involving these extremists in 2023 alone, resulting in more than 4,000 civilian deaths nationwide.

In many cases, the perpetrators remain unidentified and unprosecuted. Survivors say this lack of accountability has emboldened the attackers.

For the Catholic faithful in Katsina, a growing sense of abandonment is evident.

“We pray for peace every day, but prayer alone is not enough,” Shidi said. “We need the world to see what is happening here and to stand with us.”

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