Foreign Ministry Cries Foul, But Nigerian Journos Applaud
By Ebere Inyama
(Imo) Recommendations by expert witnesses before the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa to name and shame Nigeria over ignoring Christian persecution has ignited clapback from Nigerians.
During the March 12 hearing titled “Conflict and Persecution in Nigeria: The Case of a CPC Designation”, Subcommittee Chairman Chris Smith, (New Jersey Republican), noted that Nigerians constitute 90 percent of Christians killed worldwide annually. And he blamed the Nigerian government for failing to protect unarmed Christians from persecution.
The committee also identified members of the Fulani ethnic group in Nigeria as the ones killing Christians in the West-African country.
“Militant Fulani herdsmen are terrorists. They steal and vandalize, they kill and boast about it, they kidnap and rape, and enjoy total impunity from the elected official,” Smith said. “And none of them have been arrested and brought to justice,” he added during the hearing.
“Make no mistake, all of these attacks are based on religion, like I said, and diverting attention from it denies what we have seen with our own eyes. This “religious cleansing” needs to stop, and the perpetrators be brought to justice,” he added.
Speaking during an interview with TruthNigeria TV, a veteran journalist based in Imo state, Mr. Everest Ezihe, said he supports the recommendation made by the Subcommittee on Africa.
“ I am absolutely in support of the American Congress seeking for the president of the U.S to declare Nigeria as a Country of particular Concern,” Ezihe said during the interview.
“ This is a country where we believe in freedom of association and freedom of worship but in reality, it is not being practiced”, he continued to say.
“The Muslims are observing their Ramadan fast presently and because of that, they closed down all the primary and secondary schools in the states in Northern Nigeria not minding that in those schools, there are many Christians studying there”, he continued.
“In Bayero University in Kano state, Christians are made to pay higher fees than the Moslems and this is quite unfair.
“There is need to address this injustice and man’s inhumanity against man in the name of religion”, he added.
Speaking also to TruthNigeria TV, the Head of News for Darling FM Radio Station, Owerri, Imo state, Mr. Chris Nwokocha faulted the closure of schools in Northern Nigeria since February, 2025 simply because Muslims are observing their Ramadan Fast.
“ If Muslims are fasting, is it enough to close down schools?” he queried.
“ You don’t do that because in these primary, secondary and tertiary institutions, you also have Christians schooling there,” he said.
Nigerian Government Refutes
Reacting to the recommendation of the Subcommittee on Africa, the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied that Christians in Nigeria are being persecuted or killed.
In a statement signed by the Acting Spokesperson for the Ministry, Kimiebi Ebienfa, on March 14, the Nigerian government
said that most of the violent crimes in the predominantly Muslim northern region stems from criminality, insurgency, and banditry rather than religious persecution.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs wishes to express strong concern over the recent wave of misinformation and misleading reports regarding the supposed targeted killings of Christians in Nigeria”, Ebienfa said.
“It should be noted that the majority of incidents relating to insurgency and banditry that occur in the predominantly Muslim northern part of Nigeria are not targeted at followers of a particular faith or religion. Any narrative that seeks to give such incidents a coloration of religious persecution is erroneous and misleading.
“However, we strongly reject any attempts to wrongly designate the country, distort the narrative, or sow seeds of discord among our people,” the statement read.
Attacks snowballing into the Islamization of Nigeria
For decades, Nigeria has been an epicenter of ferocious Christian persecution. Islamist radicals attack Christian dominated communities — torching churches and villages, kidnapping and sexually abusing women, killing pastors and their congregations.
Whereas attacks by terror groups such as Boko Haram and ISWAP (Islamic State West Africa Province) often target Christians living in northern Nigeria, radicalized Fulani tribesmen often referred to as the Fulani ethnic militia, launch attacks on Christians in the Middle Belt and southern part of Nigeria.
The frequency and magnitude of these terror attacks on Christians in Nigeria, no doubt, prompted the International Christian Concern (ICC), to name Nigeria as the most dangerous place in the world to be a Christian.
According to the newly released 2025 Global Persecution Index by International Christian Concern (ICC), at least 50,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria during the past two decades, with hundreds of thousands more displaced due to persecution.
Earlier in December 2020, then-US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo designated Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), a decision that was overturned in November 2021 by the Biden administration, despite its approval by Religious freedom advocates and some U.S. lawmakers.
Government Officials Accused of Overt Prejudice
In May 2024, the President of the Middle Belt Forum (MBF), Bitrus Pogu, accused the Governor of Borno State, Babagana Umara Zulum, of secretly marrying off rescued Christian girls to their Boko Haram abductors and providing them accommodation in Maiduguri without the consent of their parents, according to a report by TruthNigeria.
Pogu’s revelation was corroborated by some parents of the kidnapped girls in Chibok town, but the Borno State Commissioner of Information and Internal Security, Prof. Usman Tar, denied the allegation. According to him, the girls were kept in a camp for skills acquisition and to remove the “toxic Islam” they were exposed to before being allowed to join their parents.
Speaking during an interview with TruthNigeria, the Publicity Secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Kwara State chapter, Bar Shina Ibiyemi, said Christians employees in public institutions are marginalized by the government.
“In the civil service, Muslims are promoted above eminently qualified Christians, for instance, a level 13 Muslim can be appointed above a level 15 Christian,” Ibiyemi told TruthNigeria.
“This systemic marginalization perpetuates a culture of oppression, limiting Christians’ opportunities and silencing their voices,” he added.
Ebere Inyama is an Imo state–based conflict reporter for TruthNigeria.
