Nigeria’s highest Islamic body, the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), has strongly condemned what it described as a “false and dangerous narrative” by the United States government alleging a Christian genocide in Nigeria.
The council said such claims are misleading and threaten Nigeria’s sovereignty, insisting that the country’s security challenges are driven by terrorism, criminality, and ecological pressures rather than religion.
The NSCIA made this known at a press conference in Abuja on Sunday, following a meeting of all Islamic organisations in Nigeria.
Ishaq Oloyede, Secretary-General of the NSCIA, who briefed journalists after the meeting, said Nigeria is not fighting a religious war.
“We have not been emphasising the killings of Muslims because we do not see it as a religious war but a national security issue. The world is aware that some Islamophobic and unpatriotic Nigerians authored a dangerous script, promoted it in Western circles — especially in the United States and got the attention of the highest levels of the U.S. government, which was erroneously made to believe that there is a ‘Christian genocide’ in Nigeria,” Oloyede said.
The NSCIA cited the United Nations’ definition of genocide, noting that the current situation in Nigeria does not meet that threshold. It also referenced reports by Amnesty International, which found no credible evidence of religiously motivated killings to justify branding the crisis as a “Christian genocide.”
“For the avoidance of doubt, what Nigeria faces is a complex and tragic perennial security crisis that brings immeasurable pain to all its citizens, regardless of faith or ethnic persuasion. From Katsina to Borno and from Benue to Plateau, as well as in Kaduna and Kwara, Nigeria bleeds through gruesome savagery against Muslims and Christians, Imams and priests.
Non-partisan experts have refuted this blackmail, and Amnesty International, which methodically investigated the insecurity in Nigeria, has stated that there is ‘no evidence of a religious motivation’ to characterise it as genocide,” Oloyede added, citing Isa Sunusi, Director of Amnesty’s Nigeria Programme.
“Under Article II of the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and Article 6 of the Rome Statute, the crime is defined by a critical ‘mental element’ known as dolus specialis the specific intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, as such.
There is nothing of such in Nigeria,” the council said, adding that the genocide claim completely collapses when confronted with reality, context, and verifiable data.
“The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) report of 2022 proves conclusively that the overwhelming driver of violence in Nigeria is not anti-Christian persecution, as Muslims and people of other faiths are also overwhelmingly affected.”
The Islamic council added that the insecurity in parts of the country, particularly in the central region, has ecological and criminal roots not an Islamist invasion.
According to the NSCIA, the major drivers of the crisis are environmental degradation, organised criminality, and illicit artisanal mining of solid minerals. “This is a violent, organised crime racket for resources, and there is nothing Islamic about it,” it said.
It added that the failure of governance over a long period has enabled the violence in Nigeria.
“Studies have revealed how endemic corruption, lack of accountability for human rights abuses, and failure to provide basic security for citizens have, over time, created a vacuum for impunity.”
The NSCIA criticised what it called “sensational and irresponsible rhetoric” from sections of the U.S. political establishment, saying such language undermines Nigeria’s image and complicates efforts to address insecurity.
“When the U.S. President, Mr. Donald Trump, labelled our country ‘disgraced,’ every right-thinking Nigerian was concerned because an ally that is determined to help a sovereign country to ‘completely wipe out the Islamic terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities’ would offer to assist and collaborate — not use such language to describe a country it aims to partner with in wiping out the terrorists.”
The Islamic council reaffirmed that Nigeria’s challenges are complex and multidimensional spanning terrorism, banditry, resource conflicts, and poverty and should not be reduced to a simplistic religious framing.
The NSCIA praised some prominent Nigerian Christians who have publicly rejected the genocide narrative, including Femi Falana, Femi Fani-Kayode, Reno Omokri, and others.
“For being factual, we also commend individuals like Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, Reno Omokri, and Gov. Charles Chukwuma Soludo, among numerous other Christians, for their sincerity, while we denounce irresponsible bigots in religious garbs and ethnic irredentists who fail to realise that you don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.
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