Despite FG pushback, New York Post claims there’s Christian persecution in Nigeria

In defiance of Nigeria’s repeated rebuttal, the New York Post has reiterated claims of a Christian persecution in the country. 

In an opinion article published Thursday, the paper’s editorial board asked US President Donald Trump to call out the “egregious persecution of Christians in Nigeria”.

The publication based its request on a call from a “group of prominent US Christian leaders”.

According to the newspaper, over 7,000-plus Christians have been killed “in just the first seven months” of this year.

The figures originated from a report released earlier this year by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) — a pro-Christian civil rights group known for its controversial and often sectional claims.

The report’s statistics quickly went viral on social media, with users alleging that the number of Christians allegedly killed in Nigeria exceeded the death toll of Palestinians in Gaza this year.

Cable Check, TheCable’s factchecking arm, found these claims to be false.

The New York Post acknowledged that Nigerian security forces are tackling Boko Haram and other Islamist terror groups who kill Christians and non-Christians in northern Nigeria.

However, they alleged that the state simply watches as “militant Fulani Muslim herdsmen assault their Christian neighbours in the nation’s Middle Belt”.

US lawmakers have increasingly called on Trump to impose sanctions on Nigeria as a country of particular concern (CPC).

Nigeria was first designated a CPC in 2020, during the last year of Trump’s first term as president. However, the Joe Biden adminstration later reversed the move in 2021.

“Pathetic,” the New York Post’s editorial board said of the decision in its article.

The newspaper said it was not Washington’s job to right all the world’s wrongs, but said it could at least condemn these “ongoing atrocities”.

However, Nigeria has repeatedly rejected these claim.

Last month, President Bola Tinubu said allegations of religious genocide in Nigeria were unfounded, noting that the country is built on the faith and resilience of its people.

On Tuesday, the senate set up a 12-member ad hoc committee to develop a comprehensive position paper in response to growing international concerns over alleged state-backed persecution of Christians in Nigeria.