Debunking the climate change excuse for terrorism,
The narrative framing killings by Fulani herdsmen and terrorists in Nigeria’s Middle Belt as mere “herder-farmer clashes” driven by climate change is a dangerous distortion that excuses mass murder. This fraudulent argument claims herders, facing desertification and scarce grazing, encroach on farmlands, sparking violence-a global issue supposedly justifying bloodshed. Yet climate change afflicts all Nigerians, not just Fulani herders, exposing the selectivity of this excuse.
But erosion, which is even a graver environmental problem, ravages the Southeast without violence. In Eastern Nigeria, gully erosion has devastated communities far worse than any herder drought, tripling affected land from 1,021 km² in 1976 to 2,820 km² by 2006, with over 3,000 gullies nationwide, swallowing homes, farms, and infrastructure. Depths reach 150m, displacing thousands in states like Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Imo, and Ebonyi, turning fertile lands into badlands amid heavy rains and poor soil. No Igbo farmer has armed themselves to slaughter neighbours, or seized lands in retaliation. Why the double standard for Fulani violence?
The terrorism statistics is alarming, and exposes the fraud: Some Fulani herdsmen attacks killed over 19,000 since 1999, with 565 terrorism deaths nationwide in 2024 alone. Many of these attacks occur in the Middle Belt. In Plateau and Benue, 2024-2025 saw more than 284 deaths, including 52 in April 2025 reprisals displacing 2,000, plus 100 burned alive in Gum, Benue in June 2025. Christians bore the brunt, with 3,100 of 4,476 global faith killings in Nigeria. Benue hosts 1.5-2 million IDPs from these assaults, totaling 3.6 million nationwide. These are targeted massacres, not environmental mishaps.
There is a danger in misframing these attacks. Portraying genocide-level killings-150 Christians in Middle Belt terror acts in 2024-as climate clashes shields perpetrators, delaying justice and enabling land grabs. It depopulates indigenous communities, fosters impunity, and polarises Nigeria, risking national disintegration as IDPs languish and farmlands are occupied. This denial, akin to genocide stages, ignores ethnic-religious targeting while Boko Haram pales in Middle Belt tolls.
Urgent solutions are needed. Enforcement of anti-open grazing laws nationwide, deployment of dedicated forces to protect Middle Belt farms, and prosecution of attackers rigorously with international monitoring are amongst the solutions. There should be investment in ranching infrastructure, resettlement of IDPs with land restitution, and banning of arms proliferation that fuelled more than 800 pre-2015 deaths.
Community dialogues must reject excuses, prioritising security over narratives that cost thousands of lives yearly. Nigeria’s survival demands calling terrorism by its name.
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The narrative framing killings by Fulani herdsmen and terrorists in Nigeria’s Middle Belt as mere “herder-farmer clashes” driven by climate change is a dangerous distortion that excuses mass murder. This fraudulent argument claims herders, facing desertification and scarce grazing, encroach on farmlands, sparking violence-a global issue supposedly justifying bloodshed. Yet climate change afflicts all Nigerians, […]
The post Debunking the climate change excuse for terrorism appeared first on Vanguard News.
, , Emmanuel Okogba, {authorlink},, , Vanguard News, December 16, 2025, 12:13 am
