The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has dismissed claims of an ongoing Christian genocide in Nigeria as peddled by foreign agents.
Recently, US comedian and HBO host Bill Maher made an allegation about Christian genocide in Nigeria, blaming it on Islamists in the country.
“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.
Also, US Senator Ted Cruz accused Nigerian government officials of “ignoring and even facilitating the mass murder of Christians by Islamist jihadists.”
He also lamented that Nigerian Christians are being targeted and executed for their faith by Islamist terrorist groups, adding that they “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…”
Calling for those responsible to be held accountable, the Texas Senator said he has introduced the Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act to the US Senate, which would target these officials with powerful sanctions and other tools.
Additionally, Riley Moore, the member representing West Virginia’s 2nd District in the United States Congress, wrote a letter to the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, urging him to designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC).
He also urged Rubio to halt arms sales and all associated technical support until the Nigerian government demonstrates it is sufficiently committed to ending this reign of persecution and slaughter against Christians.
Meanwhile, the Presidency, in multiple statements, has dismissed the claims of a Christian genocide in Nigeria as lies, stressing that there is no religious war going on in the country.
Bullets don’t look for a Christian or spare a Muslim
When The Guardian correspondent reached out to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the organisation’s Director of National Issues and Social Welfare, Abimbola Ayuba, admitted that killings were going on in the country. He, however, dismissed the claims that there were attacks against Christians alone.
Ayuba said, “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.
“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.
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.”
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