PFN president: Genocide exists in Nigeria — but it’s not about Christians alone

Wale Oke, national president of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), says genocide exists in Nigeria, but the killings are not about Christians alone.

Speaking in an interview with PUNCH on Sunday, Oke said the government must stop the killings of Muslims and Christians, adding that no Nigerian deserves to die for any reason.

“Our position is that genocide exists, but it is not just about Christians. Our concern is that whether Muslim or Christian, stop the killing, that is our priority,” Oke said.

“We don’t want Muslims to die, and we don’t want Christians to die.

“We don’t want a situation where there is genocide against Christians today and then it stops, only for there to be genocide against Muslims tomorrow.

“What we want is a situation where genocide is stopped entirely — whether among Muslims or Christians.

“Government exists for the welfare of its people as a primary responsibility. When you don’t have governance that addresses the welfare of the people, the PFN wants to speak truth to power — to make leaders, whether in the political or any other sector, understand that the welfare of the people is important.

“The government should stop the killings. No innocent Nigerian should lose his or her life for any reason.”

The PFN president’s comment comes in the wake of the debate around the allegations of Christian genocide in Nigeria.

The claims have been made repeatedly on conventional and social media, primarily by some high-profile individuals in the United States.

Some US lawmakers had asked Marco Rubio, secretary of state, to take decisive diplomatic action against the Nigerian government over what they described as the “systematic persecution and slaughter of Christians”.

The federal government has repeatedly denied the claims, saying no religious group is being targeted.

However, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) insisted that Christian communities, especially in northern Nigeria, have suffered severe assaults, loss of lives, and destruction of places of worship.