The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has refuted recent claims of a Christian genocide in Nigeria, describing them as overstated accounts driven by foreign actors.
The controversy was triggered after US comedian Bill Maher alleged that Christians were being deliberately exterminated in Nigeria.
Maher alleged that Islamists had set churches on fire and were seeking to wipe out the Christian population of an entire country.
Similarly, US Senator Ted Cruz accused Nigerian authorities of “ignoring and even facilitating the mass murder of Christians by Islamist jihadists.”
He also claimed that Nigerian Christians were being singled out because of their faith and subjected to sharia and blasphemy statutes.
Cruz introduced the Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act in the US Senate, intended to sanction officials considered culpable.
Riley Moore, a US Congressman from West Virginia’s 2nd District, wrote to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, pressing him to label Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern and to halt arms sales until the government demonstrates genuine protection for Christians.
Media reports revealed that on Tuesday, CAN’s Director of National Issues and Social Welfare, Abimbola Ayuba, admitted that killings were happening but dismissed the narrative that only Christians were being singled out.
“All I will say to you is that empirical facts exist all over the space about the spate of killings in Nigeria. The pattern of killings has truly not been in a particular pattern.
“In some Christian-dominated states like Benue, it will appear as if Christians are being killed.
“But this same insurgency has claimed several Muslims in their early morning prayers; they attack them in their mosques, slaughter them, kidnap people, and do a lot of things,” Ayuba said.
He added that some groups manipulate the crisis to attract foreign interest.
“Sometimes, our situation is being taken advantage of by groups who know what they benefit from foreign interests.
“Those foreign interests have a right to poke their noses into what’s going on in our system, but we also have a right to report things as they are.
“Yes, it’s concerning that this insurgency is lasting too long. Also, the spate of killings does not take any pattern. If they open fire in a marketplace, the bullets don’t look for a Christian or spare a Muslim or even spare a baby,” Ayuba stated.
He urged collective measures to end the crisis and warned against seeking sympathy overseas.
“So, all we must be doing now is adopt an all-of-society action to stop this insurgency and also address issues of groupthink.
“Why run to America when you have a Senate here where you can file your petition? In the end, when they place Nigeria as a country of particular interest, all of us will suffer.
“But those who run abroad to look for sympathy know why they do that,” Ayuba concluded.
