By Ezinwanne Onwuka
Amid a growing death toll and persistent reports of attacks on Christian communities in Nigeria, popular American voices are now amplifying what advocacy groups have long warned: that Christians in Nigeria are facing genocide. Still, the Nigerian government insists the claims are “despicable.”
U.S. Voices Demand Attention to Nigeria’s Violence
U.S. boxing star Ryan Garcia made an Instagram post on Saturday asking, “Does anyone know how I can help the people of Nigeria?” He noted that “Christians are getting slaughtered and eradicated at crazy numbers.”
“If you haven’t heard about it, go look it up; it’s nuts,” he added.
Garcia is not the only one speaking out. ‘Real Time’ host Bill Maher said on Friday’s episode that the killing of Christians in Nigeria by Islamist groups is “so much more of a genocide attempt than what is going on in Gaza.”
According to Maher, Islamist groups such as Boko Haram, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), Fulani ethnic militias are “systematically killing the Christians in Nigeria. They’ve killed over 100,000 since 2009. They’ve burned 18,000 churches. This is so much more.”
He said the violence had not garnered the attention it deserves, stressing that if “you don’t know what’s going on in Nigeria, your media sources suck. You are in a bubble.”
Nigerian Government Pushes Back
Mohammed Idris, Nigeria’s Minister of Information and National Orientation, has dismissed claims of ongoing genocide against Christians, describing them as “false, baseless, despicable, and divisive.”
Idris, in an official statement shared on his social media pages on Sunday, said that “portraying Nigeria’s security challenges as a targeted campaign against a single religious group is a gross misrepresentation of reality.”
He added, “The violent activities of terrorist groups are not confined to any particular religious or ethnic community. These criminals target all who reject their ideology, regardless of faith. Muslims, Christians, and even those who do not identify with any religion have suffered at their hands.”
In concluding the statement, Idris urged “the international media and other commentators to act with responsibility and have respect for facts.”
A Trail of Massacres
The Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA) reports that Fulani militias have killed over 50,000 Christians in Nigeria over the past four years.
The International Committee on Nigeria (ICON) tags the carnage “Nigeria’s silent slaughter”, while Genocide Watch calls the country “a killing field of defenseless Christians.” Nearly half of Nigeria’s population—about 49.3 percent—are Christians.
Leah Sharibu, one of 110 school girls who were abducted by ISWAP militants in 2018 from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State, Nigeria, is still in captivity because of her refusal to renounce her Catholic faith.
In June 2022, at least 50 parishioners were massacred at St. Francis Xavier Church, Owo in Nigeria’s southwestern Ondo State, during Pentecost Sunday Mass.
On the Christmas Eve of December 2023, more than 140 Christians fell to terrorist bullets across 26 farming villages in three counties in Plateau State. On Palm Sunday in April this year, Fulani gunmen stormed Zikke, a farming community in Bassa County, west of Plateau State’s capital Jos, killing over 50 Christians.
On June 13-14, 2025, Fulani militias massacred over 270 Christians in Yelewata, a farming settlement in Guma County, Benue State for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who had fled previous Fulani militant attacks in neighboring towns. A TruthNigeria investigation reveals that the killers were each paid $167 (₦248,305.62) to procure arms, ammunition, motorbikes, gas, and other essentials for the job.
The relentless violence has forced an estimated 8.18 million Nigerians into Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps within the country, and refugee camps beyond its borders.
Official Narrative Challenged
Nigerian authorities routinely reject framing the attacks, primarily on Christian farming communities, as religious persecution.
They cite overlapping issues: criminal banditry, ethnic conflicts, climate-induced resource scarcity, and clashes over land use and traditional grazing rights.
Yet observers from Washington and advocacy groups say that narrative is belied by the clear and repeated targeting of unarmed Christians by well-armed Fulani raiders.
According to them, church burnings, targeted abductions, and the scale of displacement far exceed what would normally be expected in a non-sectarian conflict.
Christian advocacy groups in Nigeria and survivors say attackers use religious language during raids — shouting “Allahu Akbar (Allah is the greatest)” or branding Christians as “infidels.”
In one case, a survivor recounted that the Fulani militia boasted: “We will destroy all Christians.”
Despite official denials, the testimonies of survivors, the repeated destruction of churches, and the deliberate targeting of Christian villages underscore the sectarian nature of the violence, according to a TruthNigeria report.
The evidence, conflict analysts say, prompt urgent questions about the Nigerian government’s response to the campaign of systematic violence against its Christian population.
Ezinwanne Onwuka is a special features writer for TruthNigeria.
