TERROR CHRISTMAS: Nigerians Cancel Christmas Celebrations In Fear of Jihad

Christmas celebrations have become prime targets for jihadist terror—the same savagery that has already slaughtered countless Christians across Africa. What could be more appealing to mass murderers than the faithful gathered openly, peacefully, in one place?

Christmas, once a season of joy, peace, and love, has been transformed into a time of vigilance and dread, haunted by the ever-present threat of Islamic terror. What should unite families in worship and celebration is now overshadowed by fear of carnage—an unspeakable perversion of a sacred holiday but a triumph for the global jihad.

Relentless Islamic violence are forcing many Christians to abandon Christmas travel and celebrations altogether. Residents of Abuja told Daily Trust they are too afraid to travel by road due to frequent attacks, while soaring airfare makes flying home unaffordable. Christian leaders say the violence—by Islamic groups including Fulani jihadists and Boko Haram—has turned highways, villages, and even churches into danger zones, particularly during Christian holidays.

Africa: The Rise of Islam

Nigeria

Nigerians Plan to Skip Christmas Celebrations, Fearing Jihadi Attacks on the Road

By: Breitbart News, December 24, 2025:

Nigerians speaking to the newspaper Daily Trust expressed extreme hesitation in traveling out of the capital city of Abuja to spend Christmas this week with family, citing the “insecurity” crisis caused by a growing wave of systematic attacks by jihadists against Christian communities nationwide.

While the report did not mention radical Islam, the Fulani “herdsmen” jihadists, or other known Islamist threats such as Boko Haram, Christian advocates in the country have repeatedly asserted that armed and organized Islamist terrorists have plagued Nigerian Christians for over a decade, massacring them indiscriminately and taking their land. Experts have accused the government, led by Muslim President Bola Tinubu, of actively denying the crisis and trying to absolve the Islamists by blaming the violence on unspecified “bandits” affected by climate change and claiming that the attacks affect all Nigerians equally, not just Christians.

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“People were even warned not to say they are Fulani herdsmen who have been causing these atrocities such that when you open the general media they are talking about bandits – bandits or they say ‘unknown gunmen’ or things like that,” Father Remigius Ihyula of Benue state, Nigeria, told Breitbart News in 2023, “so you read about bandits. It’s rubbish: they are Fulani men going about with cattle and with guns and killing people and the government won’t do anything about it.”

While the terrorist violence has existed in Nigeria for years, the issue became an international concern after President Donald Trump announced in August that he would add Nigeria to the State Department’s lists of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) for religious freedom, citing the genocidal attacks against Christians. Tinubu, the Nigerian president, responded by denying that any intolerance, much less targeted violence, against Christians existed in the country, then proceeded to declare a state of emergency in response to that targeted violence.

The state of emergency and increase in the number of documented attacks, the Daily Trust detailed, are “forcing many families to postpone of cancel trips” during the holiday. Speaking to journalist Daniel Ariyo Oluwole, Nigerians in Abuja lamented that traveling by road to their home villages was too big a security risk to justify and air travel, likely in part because of increased demand, is prohibitively expensive.

“I would have loved to travel but, considering the insecurity in the country, I am giving it second thoughts,” one unnamed Nigerian, speaking to the Daily Trust podcast Nigeria Daily, explained. “The challenge has been finance, but right now the finance is no longer the challenge but the insecurity along the highway.”

“I’m considering sending money to family members for them to celebrate without me,” he added.

Another woman speaking to the podcast similarly stated she was “very scared” to travel anywhere and taking a flight to her home was about 300,000 naira ($206.45) one-way, similar to what the first witness stated.

“Personally, I’ve been very scared to travel. I planned to travel on the 23rd or 22nd … [but] looking at what’s going on the country, especially the things I’ve been seeing on the internet, I’ve been quite scared,” she shared.

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“I don’t want to die young,” she concluded. “I’m not going to travel again, I’m just going to send them money to enjoy themselves in the village.”

An official in Kano state, one of the 12 states in Nigeria that has implemented sharia, or Islamic law, told the podcast that Kano was “very calm” at the moment and that travelers should be fear using its roads.

“Additional deployments have been done at highways,” the official claimed, “especially at strategic places where there are increased movements … The current security situation as stated is Kano is very peaceful, Kano is very calm.”

Supporting this reporting, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) lamented in a statement on December 17 that Christians in the country are foregoing celebrations and travel out of fear.

“Sadly, information available to Northern CAN reveals that a large number of Christians are considering staying back in their places of residence out of fear for their safety, as highways, rural communities, and even places of worship have become targets of violent attacks,” the chairman of Northern CAN, Rev. Dr. Yakubu Pam, stated. Pam urged the government to increase its security initiatives to allow Christians to practice their religion.

ABUJA, NIGERIA – DECEMBER 8: A general view shows streets and avenues decorated with illuminated ornaments as Abuja prepares for Christmas and New Year celebrations in Abuja, Nigeria, on December 8, 2025. (Photo by Emmanuel Osodi/Anadolu via Getty Images)
A general view shows streets and avenues decorated with illuminated ornaments as Abuja prepares for Christmas and New Year celebrations in Abuja, Nigeria, on December 8, 2025. (Photo by Emmanuel Osodi/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Nigerians have grown accustomed to heightened concerns about terrorism during Christian holidays, particularly Christmas and Easter. Nearly every one of the past ten years have experienced a large-scale string of jihadist attacks against Christians during the Christmas season. In 2024, Fulani terrorists attacked multiple communities in Benue state, killing 11 and disappearing many into captivity; reports at the time did not indicate a conclusive total of the missing. Benue is in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, the region that straddles the majority-Muslim north and the majority-Christian south.

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