Over the past 10 years, Northern Nigeria has quickly risen to the top of the list as the most dangerous place to be a Christian. More Christians are killed here than anywhere else in the world. The data show us that it’s not by slim margins. According to International Christian Concern, in 2022, 90% of all Christians killed in the world were killed in Nigeria. Last year, that number was around 70%. The persecution of Christians in Northern Nigeria has quickly evolved into a full-on genocide. But how did this happen? How did the region become a stronghold for this violence against those who follow Christ? Most of the region is a virtual “wild west” of Africa, leaving Northern Nigeria largely unchecked with a sparse military presence. The geography, coupled with a rise in Islamic extremism, has allowed groups like Boko Haram and ISIS-WA (ISWAP) to flourish unimpeded. A vehicle allegedly belonging to the Islamic State group in West Africa (ISWAP) is seen in Baga on August 2, 2019. AUDU MARTE/AFP via Getty Images According to the most recent statistics, Boko Haram alone is responsible for the deaths of 38,000 people between 2011 and 2023. Their growth has been so staggering that it has essentially overwhelmed the Nigerian government’s attempts to stop it. In 2023, I witnessed Nigerian soldiers walk off the job when ordered to fight Boko Haram militants. They told me that fighting Boko Haram was a suicide mission. These terrorist groups keep the people of northern Nigeria in a constant state of fear. They yield this fear skillfully to maintain control. While I truly believe Nigerian President Bola Tinubu wants to see change in the region, his government is outnumbered and outgunned. Another equally devastating contributor to the problem is the ethnic conflict between Fulani Muslims (herders) and Christians (farmers). While this is not “terrorism” in the traditional sense of Islamic Jihad, the results are no less deadly. There are approximately 17 million Fulani Muslims in Nigeria. Most Fulani are nomadic and predominantly raise cattle to maintain their livelihood. In this region, Christians have largely settled and sustain themselves by planting crops. As the Fulani migrate their cattle over vast distances, those cattle often wander into the farm fields of Christians, destroying their crops. While some Fulani Muslims have been radicalized, the herder vs. farmer crisis is overwhelmingly the result of tensions over land. JOHN WESSELS/AFP via Getty Images For years, I have brokered peace agreements between hundreds of Fulani Muslim and Christian communities. In nearly every case I have worked, the root cause of the conflict boils down to violence that arose from cattle destroying crops. And that violence is not one-sided. Christians have retaliated for the destruction of their crops; however, more often than not, these conflicts result in an inordinate number of Christian deaths. The most recent example is the massacre of nearly 200 Christians that happened on June 14, 2025. As a result of Nigeria’s diminishing areas for cattle grazing, the Fulani Muslims attacked Christians as a means to claim land for their cattle to graze. Further evidence is that every dry season, when access to good feeding grounds is at its lowest, there is a surge of violence between the Fulani herders and Christian farmers. Northern Nigeria, like much of Africa, is gripped by severe socio-economic challenges that fuel instability and hardship. Most people in Northern Nigeria live on the equivalent of a little more than $1 USD per day. Currently, a 10kg (22-pound) bag of rice costs about $35 USD. People barely earn enough to feed themselves. The annual inflation rate is around 24%, which drives the cost of food higher and higher. UNICEF has placed Nigeria on its crisis list, stating that over 25 million people are at high risk of food insecurity. These conditions have created an environment that keeps people in a perpetual state of survival. But how do dire socio-economic conditions contribute to Christian persecution? TOPSHOT – Mourners attend the funeral of 43 farm workers in Zabarmari, about 20km from Maiduguri, Nigeria, on November 29, 2020 after they were killed by Boko Haram fighters. AUDU MARTE/AFP via Getty Images. Inflation and food shortages exacerbate the conflict between Fulani Muslim herders and Christian farmers because, to them, every day is a desperate fight for survival. Tensions over grazing land — the source of sustenance for both the herders and farmers — run at a fever pitch. These socio-economic conditions are also the reason why so many young men are drawn to radical Islamic groups like Boko Haram and ISWAP. Not only do these groups provide a support system, but they also pay well for people willing to follow their orders and commit violent acts. I’ve heard reports of Boko Haram paying their fighters $100 USD for the successful execution of a single act of terrorism. That’s a small fortune in this part of the world. The desperate conditions of Northern Nigeria are the fuel that keeps the fire of persecution burning. These are complex problems in a complex part of the world. That’s why, at Across Nigeria, we are driven by a powerful mission: not only to uplift suffering Christians but also to extend Christ’s love to Muslims. Through our network of primary schools across Northern Nigeria, we empower Fulani Muslims with transformative education and literacy, building bridges of hope and understanding. In every area where we operate a Fulani school, the violence has dropped by 60 to 70%. We have found that providing people with options and opportunities is the best way to deter them from resorting to violence. By helping Muslims overcome these challenges, we are helping to significantly reduce the violence and bring an end to the suffering. We have done a lot, but we have a long way to go. With the proper support, I believe we can reduce the violence and bring an end to suffering for the Muslims and Christians in the most dangerous region in the world. * * * Brad Brandon is the founder and CEO of Across Nigeria. Since 2018, he has been actively serving in predominantly high-risk, highly persecuted areas like Northern Nigeria and other parts of West Africa. The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

President Donald Trump unloaded on the legacy media after a Thursday morning press conference — which was meant to correct the record on the U.S. military’s recent strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities — held by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Trump took to his Truth Social platform to praise Hegseth for delivering one of the “most professional” press conferences he’d ever seen and called for the media outlets that had pushed ahead with leaked intelligence to “fire everyone involved.” Trump prefaced the press conference — which he’d teased just a day earlier — with another post, saying, “Rumor is that the Failing New York Times and Fake News CNN will be firing the reporters who made up the FAKE stories on the Iran Nuclear sites because they got it so wrong. Let’s see what happens?” Once the press conference ended, he took a sharper tone. “One of the greatest, most professional, and most ‘confirming’ News Conferences I have ever seen! The Fake News should fire everyone involved in this Witch Hunt, and apologize to our great warriors, and everyone else!” the president posted, piggy-backing on Hegseth’s comments. Hegseth had said during his remarks that media outlets seemed so desperate to attack Trump that they didn’t care if the framing of their stories undermined the brave actions of the men and women of the United States military who had actually carried out the mission. Thank you, Mr. President. pic.twitter.com/oxHBnXLEB4 — Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (@SecDef) June 26, 2025 The president added his own comments clarifying some of what was seen at the Iranian nuclear site — cars and trucks that some in the media have alleged might have been moving nuclear materials out of the site prior to the attack. “The cars and small trucks at the site were those of concrete workers trying to cover up the top of the shafts. Nothing was taken out of facility. Would take too long, too dangerous, and very heavy and hard to move!” he declared. Trump doubled down, attacking the media again a short time later, posting in all capital letters, “FAKE NEWS REPORTERS FROM CNN & THE NEW YORK TIMES SHOULD BE FIRED, IMMEDIATELY!!! BAD PEOPLE WITH EVIL INTENTIONS!!!”

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that South Carolina is allowed to ban Medicaid funds from going to Planned Parenthood. Justices voted 6-3 to reverse the Fourth Circuit’s ruling that an individual Medicaid user could bring a federal civil rights lawsuit over Planned Parenthood being excluded from Medicaid in South Carolina. Justice Neil Gorsuch authored the court’s opinion, saying that Medicaid law does not clearly give patients the right to sue. He noted that states have the authority to decide which health care providers are “qualified” and can participate in Medicaid — for example, doctors who have committed felonies may be excluded. Planned Parenthood can challenge its exclusion from Medicaid through South Carolina’s administrative process, Gorsuch said. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson penned a dissent that was joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. “At a minimum, it will deprive Medicaid recipients in South Carolina of their only meaningful way of enforcing a right that Congress has expressly granted to them,” she wrote. South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, a Republican, previously argued that “taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize abortion providers who are in direct opposition to their beliefs.” South Carolina cited its own state law prohibiting the use of taxpayer dollars for abortion. Federal law also prohibits Medicaid funds from paying for most but not all abortions — the funds are permitted in the cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is in danger. Planned Parenthood has two clinics in South Carolina.

ISTANBUL/BAGHDAD (Reuters) -Iranian authorities are pivoting from a ceasefire with Israel to intensify an internal security crackdown across the country with mass arrests, executions and military deployments, particularly in the restive Kurdish region, officials and activists said. Within days of Israel’s airstrikes beginning on June 13, Iranian security forces started a campaign of widespread arrests accompanied by an intensified street presence based around checkpoints, the officials and activists said. Some in Israel and exiled opposition groups had hoped the military campaign, which targeted Revolutionary Guards and internal security forces as well as nuclear sites, would spark a mass uprising and the overthrow of the Islamic Republic. While Reuters has spoken to numerous Iranians angry at the government for policies they believed had led to the Israeli attack, there has been no sign yet of any significant protests against the authorities. However, one senior Iranian security official and two other senior officials briefed on internal security issues said the authorities were focused on the threat of possible internal unrest, particularly in Kurdish areas. Revolutionary Guard and Basij paramilitary units were put on alert and internal security was now the primary focus, said the senior security official. The official said authorities were worried about Israeli agents, ethnic separatists and the People’s Mujahideen Organisation, an exiled opposition group that has previously staged attacks inside Iran. Activists within the country are lying low. “We are being extremely cautious right now because there’s a real concern the regime might use this situation as a pretext,” said a rights activist in Tehran who was jailed during mass protests in 2022. The activist said he knew dozens of people who had been summoned by authorities and either arrested or warned against any expressions of dissent. Iranian rights group HRNA said on Monday it had recorded arrests of 705 people on political or security charges since the start of the war. Many of those arrested have been accused of spying for Israel, HRNA said. Iranian state media reported three were executed on Tuesday in Urmia, near the Turkish border, and the Iranian-Kurdish rights group Hengaw said they were all Kurdish. Iran’s Foreign and Interior Ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. CHECKPOINTS AND SEARCHES One of the officials briefed on security said troops had been deployed to the borders of Pakistan, Iraq and Azerbaijan to stop infiltration by what the official called terrorists. The other official briefed on security acknowledged that hundreds had been arrested. Iran’s mostly Sunni Muslim Kurdish and Baluch minorities have long been a source of opposition to the Islamic Republic, chafing against rule from the Persian-speaking, Shi’ite government in Tehran. The three main Iranian Kurdish separatist factions based in Iraqi Kurdistan said some of their activists and fighters had been arrested and described widespread military and security movements by Iranian authorities. Ribaz Khalili from the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI) said Revolutionary Guards units had deployed in schools in Iran’s Kurdish provinces within three days of Israel’s strikes beginning and gone house-to-house for suspects and arms. The Guards had taken protective measures too, evacuating an industrial zone near their barracks and closing major roads for their own use in bringing reinforcements to Kermanshah and Sanandaj, two major cities in the Kurdish region. A cadre from the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK), who gave her nom de guerre of Fatma Ahmed, said the party had counted more than 500 opposition members being detained in Kurdish provinces since the airstrikes began. Ahmed and an official from the Kurdish Komala party, who spoke on condition of anonymity, both described checkpoints being set up across Kurdish areas with physical searches of people as well as checks of their phones and documents. (Reporting by Parisa Hafezi and Ahmed Rasheed; Writing by Angus McDowall; Editing by Aidan Lewis)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth laid into a reporter who asked why he hadn’t specifically congratulated the female pilots who had been a part of the United States’ recent strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities after they stated: “The early messages that you sent out only congratulated ‘the boys.'” Hegseth, in the hours after the mission had been completed, touted the success of “our boys on those bombers” – and The New York Times, among others, complained that not all of those involved had been male. Times Pentagon reporter John Ismay, most notably, wrote, “In the briefing, Hegseth referred to B-2 pilots as ‘our boys on those bombers,’ yet both men and women have been trained to fly them.” When that topic came up during Thursday morning’s briefing, Hegseth bowed his head slightly, laughing, before responding. WATCH: . @SecDef gave the PERFECT response when asked “Why not acknowledge female pilots that participated, early messages congratulated the boys?” pic.twitter.com/BAqwj6bfdV — DOD Rapid Response (@DODResponse) June 26, 2025 “Why not acknowledge the female pilots that also participated?” the reporter asked. “The early messages that you sent out only congratulated ‘the boys.'” “So, when I say something like ‘our boys in bombers’ — see, this is the kind of thing the press does,” Hegseth replied. “Of course, the Chairman mentioned a female bomber pilot. Fantastic. She’s fantastic. She’s a hero. I want more female bomber pilots.” “I hope the men and women of our country sign up to do such brave and audacious things,” he continued. “But when you spin it as because I say ‘our boys in bombers’ as a common phrase – I’ll keep saying things like that, whether they’re men or women. I’m very proud of that female pilot, just like I’m very proud of those male pilots.” “I don’t care if it’s a male or a female in the cockpit, and the American people don’t care,” he concluded. “But it’s the obsession with race and gender in this department that’s changed priorities, and we don’t do that anymore. We don’t play your little games.”