Senator representing Borno South, Ali Ndume, says US President, Donald Trump, is ignorant about his position on killings in Nigeria.
In a post on his Truth Social and that of the White House on X last week, Trump claimed that Christians are being massacred in Nigeria.
The US President said he had redesignated Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern (CPC)”, over claims of Christian genocide, and threatened to unleash the department of war on the country to fight the terrorists “that attack our cherished Christians”.
However, speaking on Arise TV’s Prime Time on Tuesday, Ndume said Trump’s statement reflects a lack of understanding of Nigeria’s complex security realities.
He said the killings that have plagued the country since the Boko Haram insurgency began in 2009 have affected both Christians and Muslims.
The senator said attacks are largely determined by geography and demographics, not religion.
“This is not to say that Christians are not being killed. What we have been saying is it’s not only the Christians that are being killed, but Muslims are also being killed too,” he said.
“This has been confirmed by both religion, there’s a lot of killings going on in Nigeria for the past 16 years and more from the Boko Haram insurgence in 2009. Nobody can deny that.
“But to say exclusively that the Christians are being targeted depends on where the event happens. If it happens in Plateau or a Christian dominated area, naturally it is the Christians that will be the victims as it is now in Benue and Plateau.
“If you go to other areas that are Muslim dominated, depending on the type of criminality that is going on there, the victims are naturally going to be the Muslims.
“If a church is attacked, the victims will be Christians, and if it’s a mosque the Muslims will be the victims. This is what’s going on in Nigeria right now.
“The Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists and ISIS are the bandits in the north-west that are killing Muslims in mosques because there are few churches there.
“And in Plateau, churches are being attacked by herdsmen who are Fulanis and the farmers who are predominantly Christians. It’s a matter that affects all Nigerians.
“For Trump to have come out is out of ignorance. I’ve been to America and an average American is innocently ignorant. Donald Trump himself is ignorant about what is happening in Nigeria and that is where the problem is.”
Ndume said he recently moved a motion in the senate to correct what he described as “misconceptions” about Nigeria’s religious crisis.
“I brought a motion titled the urgent need to correct the misconception going on where America wants Nigeria to be reclassified again as CPC because we’ve been on that list when Obama was in power,” he said.
“We were lifted when we were struggling, the attack of the insurgents was at its peak, and we desperately needed support.
“Buhari had to meet with Donald Trump then and convince him. I remember that Nigerian top government officials had to go before ICC to defend Nigeria against those allegations.
“But surprisingly when I brought this motion, this government was really more of indifferent about it and treated it with levity. Look at what is going on now.”
