I watched with dismay the propaganda against my beloved country being spread by international X influencers, like Radio Genoa, a notoriously anti-Islamic personality, who circulated a video on X, formerly Twitter, by a fellow claiming that five hundred thousand Christians were killed in Nigeria.
The man’s exact words were, “I can tell you that last year alone over 500,000 Christians were killed in Nigeria just in one year.”
The man who said this has a thick Nigerian accent. It should not be too hard to track him down and make him produce evidence of his claim. If he cannot, he should be prosecuted for economic sabotage against Nigeria, because his claims would not make right-thinking foreign investors want to invest in a country they believe suborns regicide against Christians.
His disinformation has spread like wildfire. And may have justified others who have made such claims to a wider audience.
For example, after this, as yet unknown man’s viral video, Bill Maher, a popular American comedian and political talk show host of the long-running show, Real Time with Bill Maher, added to the misinformation.
Real Time with Bill Maher is currently the #1 most watched show on HBO.
Mr: Maher admitted that he is not a Christian. He then goes on to allege that “they are systematically killing the Christians in Nigeria. They’ve killed over 100,000. They are literally attempting to wipe out the Christians of an entire country. Where are the kids protesting this?”
He called what he alleged is happening in Nigeria a “genocide” against Christians, which is worse than what is occurring in Gaza.
I do not know if Mr. Maher means well and is just misguided and misinformed, or if he is doing this just for the ratings, as he has previously done.
But his claims and those spread by Radio Genoa are false and easily dispelled by even a casual fact-check.
Mr. Maher ought to know that there is an apolitical global body with the mandate to report on deaths from insecurity and terrorism worldwide, and that is the Institute for Economics and Peace, which annually publishes the Global Terrorism Index, which calculates how many people were killed from terror, insecurity, war and conflicts in the world.
According to the Institute’s 2024 Global Terrorism Index, a total of 8,352 people died from terror and insecurity last year. Even when you add this to the 36,000 civilians the United Nations says died from armed conflicts globally in the same year, you will agree with me that it is preposterous to allege that half a million Christians were killed in Nigeria last year, or Mr. Maher’s more conservative figure of 100,000.
To be sure, we do have a challenge with insecurity in Nigeria, occasioned by banditry and farmer/herder clashes in the Northwest and Middle Belt of Nigeria, and an Islamic insurgency in the Northeast, which has largely petered out and is in its last leg.
However, more Muslims have been killed by these criminals than Christians, and the tragedy is that here in Nigeria, our media (and I have been previously guilty of this) tend to say nothing when bandits, herders and terrorists kill Muslims, but scream at the top of our voices when Christians are attacked.
This is because Christians dominate in the media in Nigeria.
According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, ACLED, in the last decade, Nigeria has witnessed the most deaths from insecurity in the Northwest of the country, which is the heartland of Islam in Nigeria and the seat of the Sokoto Caliphate, which is the headquarters for Islam leadership in the country.
According to the ACLED, between 2010 and 2023, 13,485 people have died in these attacks, with the vast majority being Muslims. Bad enough. But nowhere near 500,000, or 100,000.
I am an Orthodox Christian, a vociferous one. In the pursuits of the Christian cause, I have spoken at the U.S. Congress and met with Congressman Christopher Smith, then the Chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Human Rights and International Organisations, where I provided details about the then perilous state of Christianity in Nigeria under General Buhari.
But two things I must mention.
First, under General Buhari’s leadership, things were bad for the Body of Christ, and we reached our lowest ebb ever in Nigeria’s post-colonial history. However, things were nowhere near as bad as Radio Genoa and Bill Maher allege.
Secondly, there was never a genocide in Nigeria. Not against Christians, which would not even be a genocide; it would be regicide. And not against any ethnicity, with the exception of the Southern Kaduna Genocide of which one man, Nasir El-Rufai, the then Governor should be held accountable. But it was a local, rather than national issue.
It used to be that most terrorism related deaths of Christians in Nigeria were perpetrated against Christians by the terror group Boko Haram, and the Islamic State – West Africa Province, ISWAP.
The intent was to ignite religious war. But when, under the direction of the Christian Association of Nigeria, of which I was a go-between between the Presidency and the then President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, Christians refused to retaliate, having been forewarned of the agenda of these groups, their agenda shifted. They began focusing on killing Muslims to ignite sectarian war amongst the Muslim Ummah, which failed, too.
Not only did those attempts fail to spark religious war, but the Nigerian Government arrested, prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned the man responsible for the most dastardly crimes against Christians, an individual by the name of Kabiru Sokoto, who was the brain behind the St. Theresa Catholic church Christmas Day bombing on 25 December 2011 in Madalla, Niger State, which killed 37 Christians.
He is still serving a life sentence in prison.
Those behind the June 5, 2022, St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church attack in Owo, Ondo State, have similarly been apprehended and are now being prosecuted.
Additionally, as the insecurity in Nigeria has shifted from terrorism to banditry, the Nigerian government under President Bola Tinubu, a Muslim, has neutralised the most dangerous bandits, who, I may add, have killed more Muslims than Christians, including:
1. Kachalla Ali Kawaje
2. Kachalla Halilu Sububu
3. Kachalla Damina
4. Kachalla Dangote
5. Kachalla Jafaru
6. Kachalla Barume
7. Kachalla Shehu
8. Tsoho
9. Kachalla Yellow Mai Buhu
10. Yellow Sirajo
11. Kachalla Dan Muhammadu
12. Kachalla Makasko
13. Yellow Hassan
14. Boderi
15. Kachalla Dan Ba birki, and
16. Auta Dan Mai Jan Kai
And many more who are not Kachallas (bandit leaders).
The point of this treatise is just to dispel the propaganda spread by either ignorant or mischievous persons about a genocide or regicide in Nigeria. Such a thing is the figment of the imagination of those making such wild and dangerous claims.
It is not true. And if it were, I would be prepared to spend my last dime fighting for the rights of Christians, Muslims or African Traditional Religion adherents were they being the victims of a regicide in Nigeria.
Reno Omokri
Gospeller. Deep Thinker. #TableShaker. Ruffler of the Feathers of Obidents. #1 Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years. Hodophile. Hollywood Magazine Humanitarian of the Year, 2019. Business Insider Influencer of the Year 2022. 21st Most Talked About Person in Africa, 2024.
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