Fact or Fiction: Is Nigeria Persecuting Christians? The Truth Behind Trump’s Claim
By TIMOTHY HAGGERTY-NWOKOLO
WHEN U.S. President Donald Trump declared that over 3,100 Christians were killed in Nigeria within a year—calling it “genocide”—his statement ignited global debate. But a closer look reveals a far more complex picture.
Reports from Open Doors confirm roughly 3,100 Christian deaths between October 2023 and September 2024, mainly from insurgency, banditry, and communal violence. However, data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) shows that such killings form only a small fraction of Nigeria’s wider insecurity crisis—where Muslims, too, are frequent victims.
ACLED analysis indicates that religious identity was a reported motive in just about 5% of attacks targeting civilians, with most violence driven by overlapping causes: terrorism by Boko Haram and ISWAP, herder–farmer conflicts, ethnic clashes, and rampant criminality.
While Christians often bear the brunt of attacks in parts of the Middle Belt and North-East, there is no verified evidence of a nationwide, government-directed campaign to exterminate Christians.
The Nigerian government has dismissed Trump’s comments as inflammatory, insisting that security operations target militants of all affiliations. No policy, law, or statement supports state complicity in religious persecution.
Verdict:
Trump’s figure of 3,100 Christian deaths is accurate within its source context but misleading as evidence of a state-sanctioned genocide. Nigeria’s violence cuts across religious lines—rooted more in weak governance and insecurity than in an official war on Christianity.
