The Senate is set to address growing claims of a ‘Christian genocide’ in Nigeria, which have been circulated both locally and internationally by some media outlets, advocacy groups, and religious organizations.
Lawmakers say the narrative misrepresents the country’s complex security challenges as purely religious.
A motion titled ‘Urgent Need to Correct Misconceptions Regarding the Purported ‘Christian Genocide’ Narrative in Nigeria and the International Communities’ will be debated on Tuesday.
The motion, sponsored by former Senate Leader Ali Ndume, has Senators Sani Musa (Niger East), Magatakarda Wamako (Sokoto North), and Ibrahim Bomai (Yobe South) as co-sponsors.
According to a copy of the motion seen by Tribune Online, the senators said the aim is to correct what they described as a distorted narrative in some international media reports portraying Christians as the sole victims of Nigeria’s violence.
They noted that ‘serious security challenges including terrorism, insurgency, banditry, communal conflicts, and targeted attacks which have affected citizens across various religious, ethnic, and regional backgrounds, resulting in loss of lives and property among both Christian and Muslim communities’ are being wrongly presented in religious terms, a development they warned could further divide the country.
The move follows the Presidency’s recent response to United States Senator Ted Cruz, who alleged that Nigerian officials were ignoring or supporting mass killings of Christians by Islamist militants.
Cruz, in a post on his X handle, claimed that Christians in Nigeria were facing systematic persecution.
Responding, Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, dismissed the claims as false and misleading. He said Nigeria’s security problems are caused by terrorism, banditry, and criminality-not religious persecution-adding that the country enjoys religious harmony.
Ndume and his co-sponsors expressed concern that the US Senate and Congress may have been influenced by such claims and could move to label Nigeria a ‘Country of Particular Concern,’ a designation typically reserved for nations accused of human rights or religious freedom violations.
They urged the Senate to reject the characterization of Nigeria’s security crisis as a ‘Christian genocide’ and to reaffirm that the ongoing conflicts stem from socio-economic, ethnic, and criminal factors that cut across religious lines.
The lawmakers also called on the Federal Government to ‘encourage diplomatic missions especially US Embassy, International organisations, and foreign media to rely on verified, balanced, and credible sources-including security agencies, local communities, and independent observers-when reporting on religiously sensitive issues in Nigeria.’
They further advised the government, through the leadership of the 10th National Assembly, to ‘engage US Senate and Congress; international partners and diaspora networks through official briefings and fact-based publications to correct misconceptions.’
They also proposed that Nigeria ‘support interfaith peacebuilding programmes that emphasise shared victimhood and national unity’ and ‘ensure justice and accountability for all victims of violent attacks-whether Christian, Muslim, or otherwise-to address impunity and rebuild public confidence in state institutions.’