Christians targeted in systematic kidnapping campaign in Nigeria by jihadi herdsmen, experts say

FIRST ON FOX: The spate of kidnappings of Christians in north-central Nigeria by mostly Muslim Fulani militants is a deliberate tactic to target, bankrupt and destroy Christian communities , according to multiple sources who spoke to Fox News Digital. "Kidnapping for ransom is a strategic aim of the Fulani militants," Steven Kerfas, lead researcher for the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA), told Fox News Digital. "They do it to fund their terrorism, but also to bankrupt the Christian community." In Nigeria’s Middle Belt states, "these mass abductions are targeted," Kerfas said. "You have cases where 100 Christians will be marched into the forest and kept there for months. You know, they are forced to cough out ransoms they don't have, so they have to sell everything – [including] their farmland." ALL 24 KIDNAPPED NIGERIAN SCHOOLGIRLS RESCUED AFTER ARMED ATTACK IN Kebbi, PRESIDENT SAYS He continued, "They survive through this subsistence agriculture. Now you force them to sell the farmland that they are surviving on to pay ransom. So by the time you release them, what do they go back to? Nothing." Henrietta Blyth, CEO of Open Doors UK, a global Christian charity supporting Christians persecuted for their faith, told Fox News Digital, "The kidnapping for ransom epidemic in north-central Nigeria doesn’t just affect Christians, but it’s clear that they are disproportionately singled out." In Nigeria, Open Doors states that 4,407 Christians were abducted in the north-central region between 2020 and 2025. When adjusted for relative population size, a Christian was 2.4 times more likely than a Muslim to be abducted, the organization claims. Blyth said, "Tactics by kidnappers include raids on churches and schools… priests and pastors are singled out because they represent high-value targets. Families and friends are often forced to sell land, livestock and property to meet the kidnappers’ demands, and it can bankrupt families for generations.". Blythe warned of the "horrific dilemma" Christians face: "Pay ransoms in the hope of saving lives, (knowing) that payment allows the attacks to continue, or refuse and risk their loved ones being slaughtered – sometimes families and communities pay the ransom, but it doesn’t lead to the kidnapped person being released alive." International Christian Concern reported that a pastor who had been kidnapped in August of last year in north-central Nigeria, the Rev. James Audu Issa, was held for several weeks, and then killed – even though a ransom had been paid. "In the (Nigerian) Middle Belt, they kidnap Christians , they kidnap the clergy, they abduct women. They hardly kidnap any Muslims," Nigerian lawyer Jabez Musa told Fox News Digital. Musa is a pseudonym, used to protect the lawyer’s identity. TRUMP TARGETS ISIS IN Nigeria AMID WARNINGS SAHEL REGION IS BECOMING ‘EPICENTER OF TERRORISM’ He said, "The reason for these ransom demands is to economically weaken Christians. That is the way Christians look at it." The lawyer added that, in April this past year one church, the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), said they had to pay 300 million naira ($205,000) in ransom to kidnappers, for about 50 of their members who were kidnapped in Kaduna State and Plateau State. Payments such as these place an unbearable financial strain on the church and affected families." Kerfas added, "The Fulani militants are on a jihad, and, of course, they need to fund that jihad. So the Christians being abducted have to cough out huge sums as ransoms." Christian communities are in the majority in Nigeria’s Middle Belt. But the claimed goal of the Fulani militants of wiping out the Christian communities through kidnapping makes their future desperate and bleak. Kerfas warned, "If you don't pay ransom, you get killed. And sometimes, even after paying the ransom, you still get killed." Fox News Digital reached out to the Nigerian government but did not receive a response.