The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has dismissed recent allegations of a Christian genocide in Nigeria, describing such claims as exaggerated narratives driven by foreign interests.
Recently, US comedian and HBO host Bill Maher accused Islamists in Nigeria of carrying out a genocide against Christians.
“I’m not a Christian, but they are systematically killing the Christians in Nigeria. They’ve killed over a hundred thousand since 2009. They’ve burnt 18,000 churches. These are the Islamists, Boko Haram. This is so much more of a genocide attempt than what is going on in Gaza.
They are literally attempting to wipe out the Christian population of an entire country,” Maher said.
Similarly, US Senator Ted Cruz alleged that Nigerian officials were “ignoring and even facilitating the mass murder of Christians by Islamist jihadists.”
He lamented that Christians were being executed for their faith by terrorist groups and “are being forced to submit to sharia law and blasphemy laws across Nigeria. It is long past time to impose real costs on the Nigerian officials who facilitate these activities…”
Cruz revealed that he had introduced the Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act in the US Senate to sanction officials complicit in such actions.
Additionally, Riley Moore, a member of the United States Congress representing West Virginia’s 2nd District, urged the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, to designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) and suspend arms sales until the Nigerian government addresses the killings.
However, in an interview with The Guardian Nigeria on Tuesday, CAN’s Director of National Issues and Social Welfare, Abimbola Ayuba, acknowledged that killings occur but rejected the notion that Christians alone were being targeted.
“All I will say to you is that empirical facts exist all over the space about the spate of killings in Nigeria. The pattern of killings has truly not been in a particular pattern.
“In some Christian-dominated states like Benue, it will appear as if Christians are being killed.
“But this same insurgency has claimed several Muslims in their early morning prayers; they attack them in their mosques, slaughter them, kidnap people, and do a lot of things,” Ayuba said.
He added that some groups exploit Nigeria’s insecurity to gain foreign sympathy.
“Sometimes, our situation is being taken advantage of by groups who know what they benefit from foreign interests.
“Those foreign interests have a right to poke their noses into what’s going on in our system, but we also have a right to report things as they are.
“Yes, it’s concerning that this insurgency is lasting too long. Also, the spate of killings does not take any pattern. If they open fire in a marketplace, the bullets don’t look for a Christian or spare a Muslim or even spare a baby,” Ayuba stated.
He called for a united domestic effort to tackle insecurity while cautioning against seeking sympathy abroad.
“So, all we must be doing now is adopt an all-of-society action to stop this insurgency and also address issues of groupthink.
“Why run to America when you have a Senate here where you can file your petition? In the end, when they place Nigeria as a country of particular interest, all of us will suffer.
“But those who run abroad to look for sympathy know why they do that,” Ayuba concluded.
