A U.S. fact-finding delegation has confirmed that Christians in Nigeria are being systematically attacked and killed, describing the situation as “a calculated and long-running genocide.”
The team has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration to act swiftly to stop the violence and protect affected communities.
The delegation, led by Retired Mayor Mike Arnold of Blanco, Texas, included Retired Ambassador Lewis Lucke, Pastor Jed D’Grace, and Mr. Judd Saul.
The visit was initiated by Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, and coordinated by presidential aide, Reno Omokri, to examine claims of persecution against Christians.
According to the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), which released details of the visit, the team’s findings have “fully vindicated” long-standing reports of targeted violence and displacement of Christians in Northern and Middle Belt Nigeria.
However, despite being invited and sponsored by the Nigerian government, the U.S. delegation maintained independence throughout its mission and refused to alter its findings.
Quoting Mayor Arnold, Intersociety said the delegation concluded that “the campaign of violence and displacement in Northern and Middle Belt Nigeria does indeed constitute a calculated, current and long-running genocide against Christian communities and other religious minorities, without any reasonable doubt.”
He added, “To continue to deny this is to be complicit in these atrocities. I say this not in anger, but in truth and grief.”
Mayor Arnold also clarified that while the Nigerian government covered his travel and accommodation, he received no personal compensation or inducement.
“I came only to give, serve, and stand with the people of this country whom I dearly love as my second home,” he stated.
Intersociety, which monitored the team’s October 14 press conference in Abuja, lamented the lack of media coverage despite the attendance of several outlets.
The group also alleged that attempts were made to distort the report’s conclusions when the findings did not favor certain interests.
The rights group described the report as “a wake-up call” for the Tinubu-led government, warning that Nigeria risks being listed by the United States as a “Country of Particular Concern,” a designation that could attract international sanctions.
“The Nigerian government must stop defending the indefensible and squandering public funds on propaganda and lobbying,” Intersociety said, urging leaders to take decisive action to prevent further bloodshed.
The organisation outlined 21 urgent steps for the Tinubu administration, including upholding constitutional guarantees of religious freedom, abolishing blasphemy laws, ensuring balance in national leadership, ending ethnic and religious bias in the security sector, and recovering occupied communities in conflict zones.
It also advised the government to draw lessons from successful models of peaceful national restructuring such as Tanzania’s 1964 union and Germany’s 1989 unification.
Intersociety described the moment as “defining for Nigeria’s future stability,” warning that “if Nigeria implodes, the consequences will spread beyond Africa to Europe, America, and Asia.”
Recall that in September, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz raised similar concerns about what he described as the ongoing genocide against Christians in Nigeria.
The lawmaker had called on the U.S. government to hold Nigerian authorities accountable for failing to protect vulnerable communities from targeted killings and persecution.
Please Trump, let the American’s soldiers put their boots on ground in Nigeria to help us clear the bandits and Boko Haram killers and any other form of killers even with the politicians and governments.
We are tired of being killed everyday like animals