Still on the Misleading Global Story About Nigeria’s Insecurity
By MUKHTAR Ya’u Madobi,
For years, Nigeria has been unfairly accused in international circles of tolerating or even orchestrating a “Christian genocide.” This narrative, often driven by foreign lobbyists, pseudo–human rights crusaders, and diaspora propagandists, seeks to portray Africa’s most populous nation as a land of endless religious warfare.
Yet, the facts tell a different story. Both the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the nation’s highest Christian body, have repeatedly dismissed such claims as baseless. Despite these clarifications, the machinery of misinformation keeps turning, stoking division and mistrust among citizens.
The latest episode in this campaign of deceit unfolded when Mayor Mike Arnold, an American “fact-finder,” was invited by Reno Omokri—one of the most vocal social media influencers backing the Tinubu-led administration—to independently investigate alleged Christian persecution in Nigeria.
To Omokri’s surprise, Arnold not only rejected his narrative but publicly branded him a “hypocrite, liar, and spinner,” accusing him of spreading propaganda. While Arnold acknowledged that religious violence exists and maintained that a state-sponsored Christian genocide in Nigeria is real, he, like previous propagandists, failed to back his claims with credible evidence.
Coincidentally, this revelation came around the same time Massad Boulos, Senior Adviser to former U.S. President Donald Trump on Arab and African Affairs, made an important clarification. Speaking in a video shared by the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Boulos stated clearly that terrorist groups such as Boko Haram and ISIS have killed more Muslims than Christians in Nigeria.
He further explained that terrorism in Nigeria is not driven by faith but rooted in complex socio-economic and security realities.
“Any loss of life is tragic,” Boulos said. “But those familiar with the situation know that terrorism has no color, no religion, and no tribe. People of all faiths and ethnic backgrounds are suffering. In fact, Boko Haram and ISIS have killed more Muslims than Christians.”
Boulos also noted that while violent clashes between herders and farmers persist, especially in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, these are primarily resource-based conflicts, not religiously motivated attacks.
This statement, from a top U.S. official, cuts through the fog of propaganda and aligns with years of evidence showing that Nigeria’s security crisis is not a religious war, but a chaotic insurgency that targets all Nigerians.
From Borno to Benue, from Zamfara to Plateau, Nigeria’s tragedies have spared no faith. Terrorist attacks have razed mosques and churches alike. Farmers, traders, children, and clergy—both Muslim and Christian—have all fallen victim to violence that knows neither creed nor color.
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When a mosque is bombed in Yobe or a church burned in Plateau, the attackers are not pursuing any divine cause. They are executing a strategy of chaos, seeking attention, control, and destabilization. To call this “Christian genocide” is to erase the pain of thousands of Muslim families who have buried loved ones in unmarked graves across the Northeast and Northwest.
This reality exposes the dangerous industry of misinformation that has grown around Nigeria’s security challenges—an industry that profits from distortion and division.
The deliberate framing of Nigeria’s insecurity as “Christian persecution” serves calculated interests. It allows foreign lobbyists and advocacy groups to use religion as a tool for political manipulation. It gives domestic opportunists an emotional weapon to polarize citizens along faith lines. And it tarnishes Nigeria’s image abroad, portraying the nation as fractured and failing.
As I have often argued, Nigeria must begin to use the full weight of its statecraft to fight this intellectual warfare. Those who peddle falsehoods under the guise of humanitarian activism are not advocates for peace. They are merchants of chaos, determined to undermine our institutions, discredit our armed forces, and fracture the delicate fabric of our coexistence.
In this digital age, information warfare is as potent as military warfare. While soldiers fight terrorists in the forests of Sambisa and the plains of Zamfara, another battle rages online and in global media spaces—a battle for Nigeria’s image and truth.
That truth must be told boldly and consistently: Nigeria is not at war with Christianity, and Islam is not the enemy. The real enemy is terrorism—faceless, faithless, and opportunistic.
Across Nigeria, stories of shared grief unite communities more than they divide them. Muslim worshippers in Yobe have been slaughtered in mosques. Christian congregations in Plateau have been massacred in churches. In both cases, survivors emerge with the same sorrow and the same yearning for peace.
The farmer in Zamfara and the pastor in Kaduna share a common enemy and a common destiny. This shared suffering should inspire unity, not suspicion.
Going forward, the Nigerian government must continue to strengthen its counterterrorism strategies while investing in strategic communication to correct false global narratives. Diplomatic missions must take proactive steps in telling Nigeria’s story with verified data, credible testimonies, and factual reports. Civil society organizations and journalists must also rise above ethnic and religious biases to present balanced analyses of our national challenges.
The media, especially international outlets, must remember that objectivity requires context, not sensationalism. Nigeria’s war on terror is not a sectarian conflict; it is a national struggle for survival, stability, and sovereignty.
It is time the world stopped listening to the merchants of falsehood who profit from Nigeria’s image crisis. Ours is a story of resilience, coexistence, and shared hope. The blood spilled on Nigerian soil—whether Muslim or Christian—is the same red, and the pain carried by our people is the same cry for peace.
Let truth, not propaganda, define Nigeria’s narrative.
MUKHTAR Ya’u Madobi is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Crisis Communication. He writes via [email protected]
