Genocidal attacks against Christians in Nigeria, real, APC chieftain replies Jama’atu Nasril Islam * Backs Trump

Genocidal attacks against Christians in Nigeria, real, APC chieftain replies Jama’atu Nasril Islam

* Backs Trump

By Steve Oko

Director General of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Digital Force, Pharm. Ikeagwuonwu Klinsmann, has berated the Jama’atu Nasril Islam for denying that Christians in Nigeria are targeted for genocidal attacks.

Klinsmann who was reacting to the recent denial of any targeted killings against Christians, accused JNI of supressing the truth.

He described any whitewashing of targeted religious violence against Nigerian Christians, as “a cowardly betrayal of truth and justice.”

This is as he backed President Donald Trump of America that Christians in Nigeria face existential threat, and urged the federal government to take urgent action against the monster.

The APC chieftain, in a statement Wednesday,  argued that anyone trying to downplay the existence of “systematic extermination of Christians across Nigeria, is being economical with the truth”.

He further argued that, ‘any dishonest attempt to downplay these atrocities as ‘mere criminality’ or ‘poverty-driven clashes’, amounts to sin against the blood of the victims”.

Klinsmann expressed disappointment over JNI’s recent rejection of genocide claims, and its argument that violence affects all faiths equally and stems from non-religious factors.

“This is a blatant lie that shields jihadists and insults the graves of thousands of innocent Christians”, he said.

Backing President Donald Trump of the United States of America that Christians in Nigeria are facing existential threat, Klinsmann accused Islamic fundamentalists of masterminding the killings of Christians and moderate Muslims in Nigeria.

He further knocked those trying to dismiss the atrocities as banditry, insisting that there is compelling evidence of genocide in the coordinated attacks against Christians.

“This is not random banditry; it is a deliberate campaign of religious cleansing by groups like Boko Haram, ISWAP, and Fulani militias, who target churches, priests, and Christian communities with impunity.

“JNI’s refusal to acknowledge this – claiming the U.S. genocide classification is ‘exaggerated’ – exposes their silence in allowing the blood of our brothers and sisters to cry out unanswered.

“They must stop hiding behind excuses of climate change or economic woes when the evidence screams of faith-based hatred”, the statement read.

Highlighting “irrefutable evidence of this targeted extermination beginning with the staggering toll documented by Genocide Watch: Since 2000,” Klinsmann said no fewer than 62,000 Nigerian Christians had been murdered by Islamist jihadists, including Boko Haram and its splinter ISWAP.

He also said that statistics indicated that over 18,000 churches were razed during the period.

According to the statement, “moderate Muslims have also suffered, with 34,000 killed in the same onslaught, underscoring the jihadists’ broader war on non-conformists, but Christians remain the primary targets in a pattern that meets the UN Genocide Convention’s criteria for intentional destruction of a group”.

He also decried violence against Christian clerics by the jihadists, noting that Catholic priests and seminarians ” are being systematically hunted”.

Klinsmann listed some of the victims as Rev. Fr. Christopher Odia, abducted from his rectory in Edo State on June 26, 2022, and executed by his captors en route to Mass; Rev. Fr. Joseph Aketeh Bako, who died in captivity after a terrorist attack on his parish in March; and. Rev. Fr. Vitus-Borogo, slain in his Kaduna rectory on June 25, 2022.

He also cited the horrific burning alive of seminarian Na’aman Danlami on September 7, 2023, during a Fulani militia raid on St. Raphael Parish in Kaduna, where attackers set the rectory ablaze, trapping him inside.

“These are not isolated incidents. They are genocidal attacks. Over 50 Catholic priests have been killed or kidnapped since 2009 alone, a 300% surge in attacks on clergy, driven by Islamist extremists who view Christian leaders as symbols to eradicate”, he said.

The statement further noted that”Blasphemy accusations have fuelled mob lynchings, including the 1996 beheading of Gideon Akaluka, an Igbo Christian trader in Kano, paraded and decapitated by a Muslim mob for allegedly desecrating the Quran – a killing that JNI and others failed to condemn unequivocally at that time.”

Citing other instances of targeted attacks against Christians in Nigeria, the statement said:”More recently, in 2022, Deborah Samuel Yakubu, a 22-year-old Christian student in Sokoto, was stoned, beaten, and burned alive by fellow students for sharing a WhatsApp message deemed blasphemous, sparking international outrage that JNI dismissed as overblown.

“In February 2018, ISWAP terrorists kidnapped 110 schoolgirls from Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State. While 104 were released after conversions to Islam, five died in captivity, and Christian Leah Sharibu, then 14, remains held today – now 21 – for refusing to renounce her faith, enduring torture and forced marriage as punishment.

“Leah’s story is the face of this genocide. JNI’s silence on such cases, while being quick to refute genocide labels, reveals their dishonesty – they prioritize protecting extremists over the lives of our daughters.”

Insisting that evidence of genocide against Christians abounds, Klinsmann cited the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) logs which said over 53,000 civilian deaths were recorded since 2009.

He said the victims were disproportionately Christians in the Middle Belt, “where Fulani militias have displaced 2.5 million and destroyed 2,000 villages since 2015”.

“In Benue State alone, a predominantly Christian region in this 2025 has witnessed a horrifying escalation, with over 500 Christians slaughtered in coordinated jihadist attacks.

“Key massacres include: over 200 killed in Yelwata village, Guma County, on June 13, where militants first targeted the Catholic church before razing homes and slaughtering families, including IDPs; at least 85 slain in a single week of assaults on Gwer West and Apa counties starting June 1; and 15 more in Sarkin Noma on November 1, sparking highway protests.

“These barbaric raiders, often shouting “Allahu Akbar,” have displaced over 6,000 more, burned food stores trapping sleeping mothers and children, and sparked cholera outbreaks among survivors – all while displacing farmers to seize fertile land.

“U.S. Congress resolutions and Vatican reports confirm this as “genocidal massacres,” with priests kidnapped at rates tripling since 2021.”

Klinsmann called on JNI “to retract their denials, condemn these extremists unequivocally, and join in demanding justice. Nigerians of all faiths deserve peace, but truth must precede it.”

The APC chieftain argued that the “Nigerian government must act decisively, or this silent slaughter will consume us all”.

“The Nigerian government must act decisively, or this silent slaughter will consume us all,” Klinsmann urged.