Nigeria has criticised the United States for barring its officials from a high-profile event at the UN headquarters in New York, co-hosted by US rapper Nicki Minaj, which focused on allegations that Christians are being targeted and killed in Nigeria.
Syndoph Endoni, Nigeria’s chargé d’affaires to the UN, said the decision to exclude the country from a discussion directly concerning it amounted to “shaving our head in our absence”, accusing Washington of denying Abuja the opportunity to present its own account.
The event, organised in partnership with the US mission to the UN, comes amid escalating claims from US officials — including President Donald Trump’s recent designation of Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” — that Christians face genocidal violence. Nigerian authorities have repeatedly rejected the characterisation.
Endoni argued that such forums must involve the country at the centre of the allegations. “You should not make important decisions or take action on something that involves a country without their presence or consent,” he said. By shutting Nigeria out, he added, the US had “denied Nigeria the right and opportunity to tell its own side of the story”.
He voiced disappointment that while a handful of nations and a pastor from Nigeria were invited, the Nigerian government and its UN mission were barred. “We asked the US authorities if it was okay to continue to shave someone’s hair in his absence,” he said, stressing that Abuja was not ignoring the threat posed by extremists.
Endoni insisted that Nigeria and the US could only make progress on insecurity by working together and urged Washington to adopt a more inclusive approach to avoid inflaming tensions around allegations of Christian persecution.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, the US senior adviser for African affairs, Patricia Mahoney, informed Endoni of the event during a visit to the Nigerian House on Monday, describing it as a private gathering. She reportedly told the Nigerian delegation that participants had requested the exclusion of Nigerian officials over fears of possible retribution.
Endoni warned that the US approach risked “naming and shaming” Nigeria in a way that could heighten domestic anxieties. He said Abuja would continue to engage its US counterparts on extremist violence and emphasised the need for cooperation to protect lives and property.
