Donald Trump says Christians are being persecution in Nigeria

US President Donald Trump’s threat to go to Nigeria “with guns blazing” to stop the killing of “record numbers of Christians” did not come out of nowhere.

For months, activists and politicians in Washington have been claiming that Islamic militants have been systematically targeting Christians in Nigeria.

But the BBC found it difficult to verify some of the data relied upon to reach this conclusion.

In September, popular TV presenter and comedian Bill Maher upped the ante He described what was happening as “genocide.” .

Referring to the Boko Haram group, he said: “They have killed more than 100,000 people since 2009, and burned 18,000 churches.”

Similar figures have also gained traction on social media.

The government in Abuja has responded to these allegations, describing them as a “blatant distortion of reality.”

He did not deny that deadly violence had occurred in the country. But officials said And that “terrorists attack anyone who rejects their murderous ideology – Muslims, Christians, and those with no religion alike.”

Other groups that monitor political violence in Nigeria say that the number of Christians killed is much lower, and say that most victims of jihadist groups are Muslims.

Nigerian security analyst Christian Ani said that although Christians were attacked as part of a broader strategy to incite terror, it was not possible to justify claims that Christians were deliberately targeted.

Nigeria faces different security crises across the country, not just violence by jihadist groups, and these have different causes so they should not be confused.

The country’s population of 220 million is divided almost equally between followers of the two religions, and the majority are Muslims in the north, where most attacks occur.

Senior Texas Senator Ted Cruz has been campaigning on the issue for some time, highlighting figures similar to Maher on October 7, Written on X “Since 2009, more than 50,000 Christians have been slaughtered in Nigeria, and more than 18,000 churches and 2,000 Christian schools have been destroyed.”

In an email to the BBC, his office clarified that, unlike Maher, the senator was not describing what happened as “genocide” but rather as “persecution.”

But Cruz accused Nigerian officials “Ignoring and even facilitating the mass murder of Christians by Islamic jihadists.” Trump echoed these words, describing Nigeria as a “disgraceful country,” saying that the government “continues to allow the killing of Christians.”

The Nigerian government denied this, saying it was doing its best to confront the jihadists. Some officials also welcomed the possibility of the United States helping to fight the rebels, as long as it is not done unilaterally.

To be sure, the authorities have struggled to contain violent jihadist groups and criminal networks – and most weeks seem to bring stories of new attacks or kidnappings.

Boko Haram – notorious The Chibok girls were kidnapped just over a decade ago It has been active since 2009, but its activities have been concentrated in the northeast, which is inhabited by a Muslim majority. Other jihadist groups have also emerged, including the Islamic State in West Africa, but also operate in the northeast.

The Christian death numbers cited by some in the United States are alarming, but assessing their accuracy is difficult.

When it comes to the data source, On the podcast in SeptemberCruz pointed directly to A 2023 Report of the International Association for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (InterSociety) – A non-governmental organization that monitors and tracks human rights violations across Nigeria. His office also sent the BBC a number of links to online articles about the issue – most of which point to InterSociety.

Maher did not respond to a BBC request for the source of his figures, but given some of the similarities to those used by Cruz, it seems likely that he was relying on InterSociety’s work.

As for data that could shape US policy toward Nigeria, InterSociety’s work is ambiguous.

In its report published in AugustThe study, which was a combination of previous research and updated figures for 2025, said that jihadist groups in Nigeria have killed more than 100,000 Christians in the 16 years since 2009.

It also indicates that 60,000 “moderate Muslims” also died during this period.

InterSociety did not share a detailed list of sources, making it difficult to verify the total number of deaths it reported.

In response to these criticisms, the organization said that “it is almost impossible to reproduce all of our reports and references dating back to 2010. Our easy way is to select their summary statistics and add them to our new findings or findings to form our new reports.” But the data sources cited by InterSociety in its reports do not reflect the published numbers.

Looking at deaths this year alone, InterSociety concluded that between January and August, just over 7,000 Christians were murdered. This is another figure that has been shared widely on social media, including Republican Congressman Riley M. Moore, who has been a leading voice on the issue in the House.

InterSociety includes a list of 70 media reports as sources for its findings about attacks against Christians in 2025. But in about half of these cases, the original news stories did not mention the religious identity of the victims.

For example, InterSociety reported on an Al Jazeera report on an attack in northeastern Nigeria that, according to the news organization, “at least 40 mostly Christian farmers were kidnapped by Boko Haram in the Damboa district of Borno State.”

But the Al Jazeera report did not mention that the victims were “mostly Christians,” as Intersociety reported.

Intersociety told the BBC it was conducting further analysis to determine their background, without explaining exactly how in this case, but cited their knowledge of local residents and the use of “Christian media reports.”

Adding the number of deaths indicated in these reports cited by InterSociety does not lead to the announced total number of 7,000.

The BBC collected the number of deaths from the 70 reports and found that the total was around 3,000 deaths. It appears that some attacks were reported more than once.

To explain this shortfall, InterSociety says it also estimates the number of people it believes died in captivity, and includes eyewitness accounts that it cannot release publicly.

The list of perpetrators of crimes includes extremist Islamic groups such as Boko Haram, as well as herdsmen from the Fulani tribe. The Fulani are a predominantly Muslim ethnic group that lives throughout West Africa and traditionally makes their living by raising cattle and sheep.

However, the inclusion of Fulani herdsmen, whom InterSociety describes as “jihadists,” in all of its reports, is the source of some controversy in Nigeria over how to classify these killings.

While pastoralists tend to be Muslim, many researchers in the field refuse to characterize this as a religious conflict, saying it is often about access to land and water.

Fulani herdsmen have come into conflict with Muslim and Christian communities across Nigeria.

“To say they are jihadists is a stretch. It has nothing to do with that. It has much more to do with rogue and criminal elements,” says security analyst Mr Ani.

Confidence McHarry, a senior security analyst at Africa-focused consultancy SBM Intelligence, says the clashes are often due to ethnic tensions and competition for resources.

“It may be ethnic in nature – they are seeking to seize land, they are seeking to expand territory, but the more communities are displaced and the more they attack centers of worship, the more these things are viewed in that light.”

InterSociety also mentions what are known in Nigeria as bandits, saying they are mostly ethnic Fulani in the northwest of the country, who engage in kidnappings and have a track record of killing Christians and Muslims.

Concerns about threats to Nigerian Christians have been discussed by politicians in the United States and international Christian groups for a long time.

In previous years, it had been raised in the United States by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOP) — a group banned in Nigeria fighting to establish a breakaway state in the Christian-majority southeast.

The Nigerian army accused Intersociety of being linked to EPOB, but the NGO denied any connection.

Another Biafran separatist group also claimed to have played a major role in promoting the “Christian genocide” narrative in the US Congress.

The Republic of Biafra’s government-in-exile, BRGIE, called it a “highly coordinated effort,” saying it had hired lobbying firms and met with U.S. officials, including Cruz.

The senator declined to comment.

InterSociety’s numbers are much higher than other data sources on the number of Christians killed in Nigeria.

Acled, which closely monitors violence in West Africa, produced very different numbers. The sources of published results can be easily traced and verified.

Its chief analyst, Ladd Stewart, did not directly address the Intersociety reports, but told the BBC that the 100,000 deaths figure being promoted on social media would include all political violence in Nigeria, and therefore it would not be correct to say that this is the number of Christians killed since 2009.

Acled found that just under 53,000 civilians – Muslims and Christians – have been reported killed in targeted political violence since 2009.

Looking at the period from 2020 to September 2025 alone, Aklid says about 21,000 civilians were killed in kidnappings, attacks, sexual violence and the use of explosives.

It identified 384 incidents in which Christians were specifically targeted from 2020 to September 2025, in which 317 people died, meaning they represent only a small proportion of those killed.

For its sources, Acled relies on traditional media, social media where reports can be verified, human rights groups, as well as local partners.

In a post on the Truth Social website last Friday, Trump referred to the killing of 3,100 Christians. A White House official said he was referring to a report issued by Open Doors on deaths during the 12 months of October 2023.

Open Doors is a charity researching the persecution of Christians around the world.

Its report said that while 3,100 Christians died, 2,320 Muslims were also killed during that 12-month period.

Open Doors also lists what it calls “Fulani terrorist groups” as perpetrators and says they are responsible for nearly a third of the Christians killed during those 12 months.

“What we are seeing now is that Christians are still being targeted, but increasingly some Muslims are being targeted by Fulani militants,” said Frans Wehrman, senior researcher at Open Doors.

Analysts say there have been many violent attacks on mosques and Islamic communities in the northwest of the country.

“One could say this is part of a broader insecurity,” McHarry said. He added, “The reason it is not assumed that it has a religious dimension is due to the fact that the identities of the people who carry out these attacks against Muslims are Muslims themselves.”