The Federal Government has begun diplomatic engagement with Washington following fresh allegations by US lawmakers accusing Nigeria of state-sponsored persecution of Christians.
Officials at Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that conversations with the US government were under way to counter what they described as “false and inflammatory” claims contained in a new bill introduced by Republican Senator Ted Cruz.
The proposed legislation, titled the Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act of 2025 (S.2747), seeks to restore Nigeria’s designation as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) under America’s International Religious Freedom Act. The move would pave the way for punitive measures, including visa bans, asset freezes and restrictions on US assistance for officials accused of facilitating religious persecution.
Nigeria was first designated a CPC in 2020 under the Trump administration, but the Biden White House removed the classification the following year, saying there was no evidence of direct state involvement in sectarian violence.
‘A false narrative about Nigeria’
In the new bill, Cruz alleged that the Nigerian government had “enabled” the persecution of Christians through weak enforcement and blasphemy laws, citing attacks by Boko Haram and armed Fulani groups. He was backed by a coalition of Republican senators, including Ted Budd, who claimed that over 52,000 Christians had been killed and 20,000 churches destroyed since 2009.
But Nigerian officials rejected the allegations, insisting that violence in the country affects “victims across all divides.”
“We have reached out to the US government explaining that the allegations are not true,” Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Kimiebi Ebienfa told Sunday PUNCH. “We have done that through our missions in Washington and Atlanta.”
Ebienfa said the ministry had previously commissioned an independent study on killings in Nigeria to counter claims of targeted religious persecution. “It’s a comprehensive document sent to all our missions abroad to engage foreign governments with facts,” he said.
He stressed that the accusations represented the views of individual US legislators, not official American policy, and that Nigeria would continue to engage through diplomatic and parliamentary channels, including the Nigeria–US Parliamentary Friendship Group.
Lawmakers push back
The Nigerian House of Representatives last week unanimously rejected the US bill, describing it as “misguided and dangerous.”
A motion sponsored by Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu called for a coordinated diplomatic protest and urged the creation of a joint Nigeria–US fact-finding mission on religious freedom. The House also directed security agencies and the National Human Rights Commission to produce a consolidated report on religion-linked violence since 2023 to demonstrate that “there is no state-sponsored persecution.”
‘Western propaganda’ and Gaza backlash
Presidential aide Daniel Bwala, Special Adviser on Policy Communication, said the government viewed the genocide allegations as part of “Western propaganda” targeting Nigeria’s image.
Speaking on France 24’s Eye on Africa, Bwala linked the renewed focus on Nigeria to its stance at the United Nations General Assembly, where the country backed a two-state solution to the Israel–Palestine conflict and condemned the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
“Twenty-four hours after Nigeria took that position, this comedian called Bill Maher started pushing the Christian genocide narrative,” Bwala said. “It’s a cooked-up story designed to discredit Nigeria’s progress under President Tinubu.”
He added that while Nigeria acknowledged security challenges, the Tinubu administration had made “massive improvements” in combating terrorism and banditry.
Bwala accused Cruz and his colleagues of relying on reports from the Intersociety Organisation, a Nigerian rights group he claimed was funded by foreign interests and had published “contradictory and exaggerated figures.”
“They base their arguments on a flawed report that even attributes killings by separatist groups in the Southeast to the Nigerian military,” he said. “It’s clearly an agenda to inflame religious tension.”
Washington silent, Abuja defiant
As of Friday, the US State Department had not issued an official response to the lawmakers’ calls for Nigeria’s re-designation. Messages sent to the offices of Cruz and Representative Riley Moore—another lawmaker who recently described Nigeria as “the deadliest place in the world to be a Christian”—also went unanswered.
Meanwhile, Abuja maintains that while insecurity remains a challenge, the violence is driven by complex social, economic and criminal factors—not religious persecution.
“We can’t deny there are killings in Nigeria,” said Ebienfa. “But the victims cut across communities and faiths. It is wrong to label this as a Christian genocide.”
With diplomatic tensions simmering and the US bill yet to advance in the Senate, Abuja’s next test will be ensuring that the narrative of religious persecution abroad does not undercut its fragile efforts to rebuild trust and stability at home.
