Security analyst and counterinsurgency expert, Zagazola Makama, has dismissed as “false, baseless, and hypocritical,” claims by U.S. Congressman Riley M. Moore over alleged “systematic persecution and slaughter of Christians” in Nigeria.
Telling Moore to “stop weaponising religion,” Makama said the Congressman’s remarks were nothing but an orchestrated attempt to exploit religion as a political weapon, while disguising the real agenda to deny Nigeria access to weapons and military hardware needed to defeat terrorism.
Congressman Moore had in a letter on Monday sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on the U.S. Department of State to redesignate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) due to the alarming and ongoing persecution of Christians across the country.
In his letter, Congressman Moore urged President Trump’s administration to take “immediate action to address the systematic persecution and slaughter of Christians in Nigeria,” highlighting the nation’s growing reputation as “the deadliest place in the world to be a Christian.”
Congressman Moore’s letter detailed that over 7,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria in 2025 alone—an average of 35 per day—with hundreds more kidnapped, tortured, or displaced by extremist groups such as Boko Haram. The Congressman also pointed to reports indicating that 19,100 Christian churches have been attacked or destroyed since 2009 and that elements of the Nigerian government may be complicit in the violence. Reports from Open Doors indicate that more Christians are killed every year in Nigeria than the rest of the world combined.
The Congressman noted that President Trump previously designated Nigeria as a CPC, a designation reversed under President Biden, and called on Secretary Rubio to restore the designation and suspend all U.S. arms sales and technical support to Nigeria until the government takes swift action to protect the persecuted.
Congressman Moore issued the following statement: “Nigeria has become the deadliest place in the world to be a Christian. Just this year, a priest was kidnapped and murdered on Ash Wednesday and 54 Christians were martyred on Palm Sunday. 7,000 Christians have been martyred this year alone. More than 50,000 Christians have been murdered since 2009.
“The United States cannot stand idly by while believers are slaughtered. We must acknowledge the religious nature of this scourge of anti-Christian violence from radical Islamic terrorists. It’s time for the United States to defend our brothers and sisters in Christ, and designating Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern will provide the diplomatic levers to do just that. I urge Secretary Rubio to designate Nigeria as a CPC without delay.”
But Makama noted that “this entire narrative of so-called Christian genocide is not only false but deliberately crafted to cripple Nigeria’s counterterrorism capacity. The same terrorists who attack churches also bomb mosques and kill Muslim villagers. They are not fighting for faith they are fighting against peace.”
He noted that Moore’s claim of 7,000 Christians killed in 2025 was not supported by any verifiable evidence or credible international monitoring body, including the United Nations, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, or even the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, which maintains real-time intelligence on Nigeria’s security situation.
“If the U.S. Embassy in Abuja with its vast intelligence network has never classified the violence in Nigeria as religious genocide, then where exactly did this Congressman get his statistics from? Certainly not from facts,” he said.
Makama said it was deeply disturbing that individuals in the U.S. Congress could be misled by propaganda designed to portray Nigeria as a country at war with its Christian population, when in fact, victims of insurgency and banditry cut across all religions and ethnicities.
He warned that blocking arms sales to Nigeria under the guise of human rights or religious concerns would directly strengthen the terrorists and make the U.S. Congress complicit in the killings they claim to condemn.
“When you deny Nigeria weapons to fight terror, you are helping the terrorists who get theirs through illegal back channels. That means the so-called human rights defenders in Congress are aiding mass murder by ensuring that innocent civilians remain defenceless,” Makama stated.
He also reminded the U.S. lawmaker that earlier this year, Washington itself admitted that American taxpayer money through USAID had found its way into the hands of terrorist-linked organizations in the Sahel, yet no one has been prosecuted.
“So before pointing fingers at Nigeria, the U.S. should first look inward. Their own agencies have admitted to indirectly funding terrorists, and yet, they continue to lecture other nations about accountability,” he said.
Makama described the Congressman’s statements as a dangerous attempt to sow religious division and mislead the international community into viewing Nigeria through a sectarian lens.
“Nigeria’s security crisis is not a Christian-versus-Muslim war. It is a fight between lawful citizens and violent extremists. Any attempt to twist it into a religious war is dishonest and deeply irresponsible,” he said.
He added that countless soldiers and civilians of both faiths have sacrificed their lives in defence of the country, and their bravery should never be undermined by political actors seeking to weaponise faith for foreign agendas.
“Those who peddle this false narrative are not friends of peace. They are knowingly promoting religious hatred and helping the enemies of Nigeria by trying to cut off its access to essential defence support,” Makama said.
He called on international partners to rely on verified intelligence, credible data, and first-hand reports from reputable organizations rather than politically motivated fabrications designed to damage Nigeria’s reputation.
“If the U.S. truly stands for global peace and religious freedom, it must stop empowering propaganda that fuels division and weakens nations fighting terrorism on the frontlines,” he concluded.