As the corporate media and many Western liberals falsely claim that a genocide is taking place in Gaza, they have simultaneously drawn a veil of silence over an actual genocide of Christians in Nigeria. But thanks to a few courageous voices and social media, the world is finally waking up to the horrors unfolding in the African nation.
For more than a decade, militant Islamist groups, most infamously Boko Haram, have systematically executed tens of thousands of Christians in Nigeria while destroying their homes and communities. Boko Haram describes its violence as “jihad,” or an Islamic “holy war” against Christians.
In the most recent escalation of this war, Boko Haram seized the border town of Kirawa in Borno state, forcing more than 5,000 people to flee to neighboring Cameroon. Boko Haram then released a video showing fighters torching military barracks while chanting “victory belongs to God.”
In a 2022 letter to United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the Catholic group Christian Solidarity International urged him to “use all the facilities available through your office to prevent or stop genocide and other atrocity crimes against Christians in Nigeria.” They never received a response.
In 2020, the first Trump administration finally designated Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” over religious freedom issues. But the Biden administration removed Nigeria from the list a year later even as the genocide continued. The current Trump State Department has said that it is “deeply concerned about the violence against Christians and other groups in Nigeria.”
Bill Maher has been one of the few mainstream voices not willing to participate in the media establishment’s campaign of silence. “I’m not a Christian, but they are systematically killing the Christians in Nigeria,” Maher said on his show last month. “They’ve killed over 100,000 since 2009. They’ve burned 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.”
Other reports put the number of deaths even higher. One estimate says at least 125,000 Christians have been killed since 2009, and that, from January to August of this year, more than 7,000 Christians have been murdered. That’s about 32 per day. Another report out late last month found that at least 760 members of the clergy – including 350 pastors and 250 Catholic priests, seminarians, and religious nuns – have been “abducted, tortured to death, or have disappeared.”
Still, following Maher’s comments, the mainstream press has been largely silent. A Google search for “Christian genocide in Nigeria” produced as its top result a story from Islamist outlet Al Jazeera falsely claiming that there is “no Christian genocide in Nigeria.”
Buried deeper in the search results was a story from Newsweek relaying harrowing accounts of the violence from NGOs on the ground. Emeka Umeagbalasi, the founder of the local International Society for Civil Liberties & Rule of Law, has warned, “If nothing is done in the next few years, Christianity will cease to exist in Nigeria.” As Christian human rights lawyer Jabez Musa told the outlet, “Gradually, Christians are being wiped out, and churches have been destroyed.”
According to international Christian advocacy group Open Doors, “more Christians are killed for their faith in Nigeria than in the rest of the world combined.”
Werner Lichtenberg, a retired professor of international relations who was a diplomat in Nigeria in the early 1990s, told me in an interview that the Nigerian government has “failed to defeat these terrorists” and that “the fact that they are not seeking help from international institutions while the massacre is ongoing raises serious concerns.”
Father Camillus, who pastors ten Catholic parishes in the northeast part of the country, told me that “while Muslims also suffer from Islamist attacks, Christians are the primary targets in a country where both groups coexist.” He requested anonymity due to threats of kidnapping and murder, noting that six of his colleagues have been killed recently.
“Just yesterday,” he said, two Christian men were shot near a village that he visits, and such attacks are now a regular occurrence. “Please tell it to your readers as loud as you can,” he added.
Evidence also suggests that Islamist groups target Christians during holidays like Christmas. A report from the Stefanos Foundation on “Black Christmas” documented 238 murders of Christians in just one Nigerian state between December 24-30 of 2023.
While the Nigerian government claims to be taking action to stop the killing, critics say the response has been inconsistent and lackluster. Umeagbalasi argues that the government is intentionally allowing the persecutions to continue as part of a state plan called the “Fulani Jihadism Conquest Project” to eliminate Christians, seize their lands, and promote Islamism.
A recent incident in July, where students were abducted by jihadists on their way to the Nigerian Law School, highlights police indifference to the violence in some cases. One survivor recounted beatings and torture, denying claims of a police rescue and stating that families had to pay a ransom for their release.
The world cannot continue to look away. What’s happening in Nigeria is not a “conflict” or “sectarian violence.” It is a coordinated campaign to eradicate a people for their faith — a true genocide against Christians. The international community’s silence, and especially the Western media’s refusal to confront this evil, make them complicit.
It’s long past time for moral clarity: the world must name this genocide and demand that it end.
Ben Solis is the pen name of an international affairs journalist, historian, and researcher.
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