Christians deny Trump’s claim to have ended ‘genocide’ in Nigeria

‘Trump should allow the victims to make that confession, not him. The victims are the right people who can tell whether whatever he has done has yielded any success.’

Christian leaders in Nigeria dismissed US President Donald Trump’s claim that the US military had ended the killing of Christians in the country.

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria described Trump’s claim as misleading, false and detached from the realities on the ground, warning that it could trivialise the country’s persistent security crisis.

During an event in Washington on 26 June, President Trump said American intervention in Nigeria played a major role in halting attacks allegedly targeted at Christian communities, particularly in areas affected by insurgency and violent extremist activities.

“As you know, we recently struck Nigeria and largely ended the slaughter of great Christian populations,” he said, claiming that thousands had been killed in brutal attacks beforehand.

“They have a great Christian population. They were being butchered, thousands and thousands of people were being killed, children, women, old people, just being slaughtered, hacked to death,” he continued.

Trump said that US military action in December significantly weakened those responsible for the attacks.

“They know that if they go further, the attack will be far greater and that they don’t want to really get involved anymore so much. We hit them very hard. We knocked out their leader. We knocked out their second leader and their third leader,” he said.

Joseph Hayab, the CAN chairman in the 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory, disputed Trump’s claims, insisting that Nigerians of all religions – not only Christians – were still being killed and abducted across several states.

In a statement, Hayab said only victims of insecurity and Christians in Nigeria could determine whether there had been any meaningful improvement in the security situation, emphasising that killings and abductions were still taking place across the country.

Hayab described Trump’s statement as a political claim based on misleading information from advisers who did not understand the security situation in Nigeria.

“The right people who should tell whether Trump has succeeded should be Nigerian Christians or Northern Christians, not Trump himself. But probably he is getting his information from the wrong source. I think some of his political claims are not good enough to resolve things,” he said.

“Trump should allow the victims to make that confession, not him. The victims are the right people who can tell whether whatever he has done has yielded any success.”

While acknowledging recent US military operations targeting terrorists, the CAN chairman said the intervention had not ended attacks on innocent Nigerians.

“The strategy Trump’s America is adopting is not good enough because after the US forces struck in Sokoto last December, they went on a long recess. They came recently again and killed some ISIS commanders, but people are still being killed here every day,” he said.

Hayab urged the US administration to focus on providing practical assistance rather than making what he described as political claims.

“We don’t know those who are advising or telling him stories that are not true. If they want to truly bring an end to the killing of innocent Nigerians, let them stop the propaganda or the media story and focus on the reality, because I’m not sure the victims would like this kind of claim,” he said.

“I think he needs to be properly informed about what is happening rather than claiming what is not, because if someone is still sick and in hospital and you claim that he has recovered, it means you have either been misinformed or you probably do not understand what it means to be ill.”

He continued: “We want help, but the help shouldn’t be propaganda. It should be genuine help, not propaganda or misinformation. All those people who are still in bandits’ captivity in Oyo, Kwara and Kogi, what has happened? People are still in Kwara, Katsina, Borno and other states. Trump and his men can find a better story.”

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