…As US voices condemn Nigeria killings
The United States (U.S) intensified its criticism of Nigeria’s security crisis on Tuesday, as top US figures – including UN Ambassador Michael Waltz and American musician Nicki Minaj – decried what they described as targeted attacks on Christians.
However, in Kebbi State, local authorities pushed back strongly against claims by a US lawmaker that a recent school attack was religiously motivated.
Speaking at a UN event on global religious freedom, titled: “Combatting Religious Violence and the Killing of Christians in Nigeria”, Ambassador Waltz labelled ongoing attacks “genocide wearing the mask of chaos.” He cited killings, church burnings, beheadings of pastors, and blasphemy arrests as evidence of what he said was systematic persecution.
“Twenty-five little girls were ripped out of their school just yesterday,” he said, referencing Monday’s abduction of students in Kebbi State. Waltz also quoted figures from Open Doors, saying Nigeria accounts for “80 percent of violence against Christians worldwide.” He praised former US President Donald Trump’s condemnation of Nigeria’s violence, insisting the world needs “voices that pierce the silence”.
Nicki Minaj, speaking at the same event, described the Nigerian situation as part of a global crisis of religious repression. “Christians are being targeted, driven from their homes, and killed,” she said, urging coordinated global action. She, too, thanked Trump for “prioritising” the issue and calling for urgent protection of religious freedom.
Her comments came days after Trump declared there was an ongoing “Christian genocide” in Nigeria and announced a plan to designate the country a “Country of Particular Concern.”
The Nigerian government has dismissed such claims, insisting that insecurity stems from criminality, not religion.
Meanwhile in Kebbi State, local government chairman, Hussaini Aliyu firmly rejected related claims by US lawmaker Riley Moore, who had alleged that the schoolgirls abducted in Maga, Danko-Wasagu LGA, were taken from a Christian community.
Aliyu warned that Moore’s statements were false and dangerous, insisting that all 25 abducted students are Muslims and that the Zuru Emirate “has never experienced religious conflict.” He released the names of the abducted girls to counter the narrative, stressing that authorities are focused on securing their rescue.
Recall that the attack on Government Girls Comprehensive Senior Secondary School on Monday left Vice-Principal Hassan Makuku dead, after he attempted to confront the gunmen. One student has since escaped, while security agencies continue search operations in surrounding forests.
President Bola Tinubu has condemned the attack, cancelled planned foreign trips, and dispatched Vice President Kashim Shettima to Kebbi to meet families and security leaders. Rescue operations remain underway, as debate intensifies locally and internationally over the nature of Nigeria’s violent crisis.
