The lawmaker representing Borno South Senatorial District, Ali Ndume, on Thursday faulted the claim by a United States lawmaker, Senator Ted Cruz, that Christians genocide was ongoing in Nigeria.
Ndume stated this when hw appeared as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today anchored by Seun Okinbaloye and monitored by our Correspont in Lagos, describing the US lawmaker’s claims as false and unfounded.
Ndune warned that such a claim could misrepresent Nigeria’s security situation before the international community.
“What Ted Cruz and co said is not true. It is not true to say Christians are being persecuted in Nigeria,” he declared.
“This thing came from Ted Cruz and it dates back to 2020. In fact, Donald Trump, in his first term, designated us as CPC — Countries of Particular Concern — where a group of religious believers of any type are being persecuted. That means sanctions will be applied.”
Ndune insisted that insecurity in Nigeria should not be reduced to religious persecution, stressing that victims of attacks across the country cut across different faiths and ethnicities.
He advised international observers to seek accurate information rather than rely on misleading reports.
Ndume’s comments which align with and bear the same tenor with that the Federal Government, followed a statement by Senator Cruz, who had accused the Nigerian government of enabling a “massacre” against Christians.
Cruz had on Tuesday posted on X (formerly Twitter) that about 50,000 Christians have been killed since 2009, while over 2,000 schools and 18,000 churches were destroyed by “Islamist armed groups.”
Cruz also announced the introduction of a bill in the US Senate seeking sanctions against Nigerian officials whom he accused of “ignoring and even facilitating the mass murder of Christians.”
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Senate has also dismissed the allegations, describing them as false, divisive, and potentially harmful to national unity.
On Thursday lawmakers debated a motion titled “Urgent Need to Correct Misconceptions Regarding the Purported ‘Christian Genocide’ Narrative in Nigeria and International Communities,” during plenary.
The lawmakers then urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to engage diplomatically with the United States to clarify Nigeria’s position and ensure accurate representation of the nation’s security realities.
