Anti-Fulani sentiment is the hostility that exists towards Fulani people in Nigeria, Mali and other West African nations and the discrimination that they are subjected to as a result of it. The Fulani are a semi-nomadic ethnic group that is dispersed across several West African countries. Fulani people represent 6% of Nigeria's population.^[1]

The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with Nigeria and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (May 2022)

Fulani people have been accused of supporting Islamic terrorist groups such as Boko Haram even though they themselves are often victims of terrorist attacks.^[2] These accusations have emboldened various ethnonationalist groups in Nigeria, such as the Igbo nationalist group Indigenous People of Biafra, which attempts to spread anti-Fulani rhetoric.^[3] Alleged support for Islamist Terrorism was the main motive for the Ogossagou massacre in Mali by Dogon militias.

The Herder–farmer conflicts in Nigeria are a series of disputes between Fulani cattle herders and non-Fulani farmers over land, sometimes resulting in violence. The competition with Fulani herders has fueled anti-Fulani sentiment in Nigeria from politicians and news outlets.^[2] In response to this conflict, some states in Nigeria have proposed or enacted laws to discourage Fulani herders from bringing their cattle for grazing. These laws have been accused of being discriminatory towards the Fulani people without solving the problem.^[4] The Fulani advocacy group Tabital Pulaaku International has accused Adamawa senator Binos Dauda Yaroe of hate speech after he blamed Fulani pastoralists for armed kidnappings in Nigeria.^[5]

Leaders in Nigeria's southern and Middle Belt regions have expressed opposition to plans from the federal government to establish a Fulani-language radio station, claiming it would promote genocidal propaganda against non-Fulanis, making comparisons to the Rwandan genocide.^[8]

In 2016, in response to a rise in conflicts with Fulani herders, the hashtag #fulaniherdsmen trended among Nigerian social media users, accompanied and fueled by anti-Fulani rhetoric.^[9] Online media and fake news have depicted Fulani herders as bloodthirsty murderers or terrorists, further inciting anti-Fulani sentiment.^[10] Nigerian Catholic bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah has called for an end to online "hate speech" towards Fulani herders.^[11]