The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs said yesterday that the claim that Christians are being killed in Nigeria is incorrect, harmful, and politically driven.
Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, the Secretary-General of the NSCIA, spoke at a news conference in Abuja and said that the Western media and politicians were spreading the claim of Christian genocide as part of a supposed planned effort to destabilize Nigeria.
Bishop Wale Oke, the President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, said, “There is Christian genocide in Nigeria.”
“There’s no other term for it. No Christian group is going against Muslims. “Patience of the church is being stretched,” Oke stated when he visited the Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Rashidi Ladoja, over the weekend.
President Donald Trump of the United States called Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern,” which led to the discussion.
Between October 31 and November 1, Trump wrote a number of posts on X in which he decried the ongoing deaths in Nigeria and said that America was ready to send its military there if the Federal Government did not halt the atrocities by Islamist groups.
But when they spoke to the press in Abuja yesterday, the NSCIA said that the violence in some regions of the country was caused by crime, poverty, and people moving because of climate change, not by religious persecution.
“We say again that there is no Christian terrorism in Nigeria. There is no terrorism by Muslims. Nigeria is not religiously intolerant.
Oloyede added, “The tragedy in Nigeria is poverty, climate change, bad governance over time, and armed criminals who kill without reason while some parts of the world try to take advantage of the situation for geopolitical gains.”
The NSCIA Secretary said that some Nigerian separatist groups, foreign lobbyists, and U.S. politicians were using Nigeria’s lack of security to get what they wanted.
He said, “These groups use fake statistics and edited videos to get Western governments, especially the US, to punish Nigeria.”
He also said that the U.S. calling Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern” again was “a political tool, not a reflection of facts on the ground.”
The NSCIA encouraged both the Nigerian government and the rest of the world to ignore the “false and destabilizing narrative.” They also asked President Trump to “help Nigeria with intelligence and logistics support instead of smear campaigns.”
But when Oke, the PFN President, visited the Olubadan, he said, “There is Christian genocide in Nigeria.” You can’t call it anything else. There is no Christian group that is targeting Muslims. “The church’s patience is being tested.”
He stated that the atrocities were being conducted by extremist groups such as Boko Haram, ISWAP, and splinter cells that invoke Islam during assaults, adding that they do not represent the wider Muslim population.
He said that hundreds of Christians and pastors had been killed, and he listed the killings of Deborah Samuel, the kidnappings of Leah Sharibu and the Chibok girls, and attacks in Benue, Taraba, Southern Kaduna, Owo in Ondo State, Niger, and Plateau.
Oke thanked Trump for bringing up the problems Christians are facing, but he told him not to send troops to Nigeria and instead support the leadership there.
“Instead of going against Trump, Tinubu should ask for his help. The President should get rid of extremist groups like ISWAP and Boko Haram. So that Nigerians can live in peace, you all need to work together.
“The administration needs to stop playing politics with it. He added that Tinubu and the federal government need to work with Trump to get rid of this cancer.
Adeola Oloko, Olubadan’s media aide, said in a statement that Oba Ladoja also spoke about years of bloodshed and damage during the meeting. He said the Christian community needed to be calmed down.
Ladoja remarked, “A lot of people have died and property worth an unimaginable amount of money has been destroyed.” Many families, especially women and children, have had to leave their homes. There have been kidnappings.
“Over the years, many governments have spent trillions of dollars to battle crime. People are going to feel wronged and turn to self-help if you look at this situation over the last ten years.
“Former President Jonathan has tried.” Muhammadu Buhari, the former president, has tried. Bola Tinubu, the president, is trying. But I want to warn you that terrorists don’t care if you’re a Muslim or a Christian.
“They think everyone is prey, but they are the predator.” As the President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, a member of CAN, we are asking you to help us calm down our Christian brothers and sisters who are understandably upset that these times will pass.
The king remarked that in the South-West, where he knows more about how communities work, people of different religions get along well. He wondered why this kind of harmony is hard to find in other regions of the country.
Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, a leader in the All Progressives Congress in Osun State, said Tuesday that Nigeria should not allow foreign troops to fight terrorism.
Oyintiloye said in a statement in Osogbo that political and religious leaders should not use Trump’s threat as a way to undermine President Tinubu.
Instead of making the issue political, he asked everyone involved to support the President in the fight against terrorism and violent crime.
“At this important time, all Nigerians, no matter what their political or religious beliefs are, should come together to support the President and work together to solve the country’s ongoing security problems. He stated, “Now is not the time to play opposition politics.”
He went on to say, “We all need to realize that all of our hopes, plans, and goals for getting into public service depend on Nigeria still being around.
“Our current group of leaders will be around for a while and then move on. But Nigerians shouldn’t fall into a trap that will make the country disappear. We can stop terrorism if everyone works together.
It will be beneficial to get help from other countries in the form of equipment, but not warriors. It could make things worse and cause more issues. Now is the time for political, religious, and communal leaders to come together. All Nigerians need to support Tinubu right now.
He said that Trump’s warning should worry every Nigerian and that killings didn’t start with the Tinubu administration but had been going on for a long time.
He said that no one religion had been targeted more than others, and that Muslims, Christians, and people of other religions had all been affected by terrorism.
He said that the U.S. should share intelligence and send military equipment to help Nigeria fight terrorism, even though he understood why the U.S. was worried about Nigeria’s security problems.
He told people in the opposition to be careful about what they said because it would have effects on the whole country. He also told the new service chiefs to prove that they are worthy of the trust placed in them and to fight hard to defeat terrorism.
There has been a lot of talk about whether Nigeria should let foreign troops get involved, and people are split on the issue.
The Tinubu administration has talked to stakeholders to avoid a direct fight with the U.S.
On November 7, it was reported that Tinubu indicated his government was working on the issue through diplomacy.
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