US. President Donald Trump has once again thrust Nigeria into the global spotlight. In an October 2025 announcement, he declared that Nigeria would be designated a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) under the U.S. International Religious Freedom Act, citing what he called “the mass murder of Christians.”
“Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter.” — AP News, 31 Oct 2025
Denial from Abuja
The Nigerian government swiftly rejected Trump’s description. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs called it “false and misleading,” insisting that insecurity in the country is “sporadic” and driven by banditry and criminality, not religion. Presidential adviser Bayo Onanuga accused Trump of exaggeration, saying his words were “based on misinformation.” But this time, Nigerians are not buying it. For over a decade now, the country has been haemorrhaging lives while its leaders have perfected the art of denial. With every new report of villages being burned, churches attacked, or families slaughtered, the government treats massacres the way most treat the weather — acknowledged for a moment, then they flip to the next channel as if nothing happened. The political will to end the violence has been zilch.
Failure of Leadership
Critics argue that Trump has ulterior motives — that his call for intervention in Nigeria is politically convenient or self-serving. Perhaps he does. But while his motives are questioned, the Nigerian government has stood by while thousands have had their lives taken. They have stood by complacently and have not met the task with the force required. It is also alleged that there are those whose ulterior agendas are directly fuelling the deaths of their own citizens, and others who, through silence or self-preservation, are indirectly doing the same. It has further been alleged that international groups and actors that have sought to intervene — to investigate or help stop the killings — have been prevented from doing so through the consistent denial of the Nigerian government about the issues on the ground. When a government stands by and watches entire villages hacked to death, chased into the bush, shot, or burned alive, its failure to use the necessary force to stop the bloodshed is not neutrality but negligence — and it can also be seen as complicity. On social media, Nigerians have been seen arguing more about Trump’s so-called “invasion” than about the lives being lost. Many seem more afraid that Trump might loot lithium, gold, or oil than grateful that someone is at least talking about saving Nigerian lives. They are guarding the nation’s resources while ignoring its true wealth — its people. It is like watching your house burn and refusing to let the firemen in — standing outside, protecting the property, while your family burns inside. So what if Trump wants lithium? So what if he wants oil? Is a single Nigerian life not worth more than all of that?
A People Left Defenseless
Across the Middle Belt and northern states, communities remain under siege from militants, bandits, and armed herdsmen. Villages burn, churches collapse into ash, and families flee for safety. Civilians are forbidden to carry weapons for self-defence, yet the attackers appear well-armed and strategically supplied. The army is often on standby — watching while citizens are slaughtered. A single state governor moves with about twenty armed security men at times — sometimes more — while even more officers are deployed to guard their families and homes. Yet entire villages, where hundreds of people sleep unprotected, have not one armed guard. The contrast is staggering: protection for the powerful, exposure for the powerless. If the Nigerian government had the will to end this crisis, the evidence would already be visible. At the very least, they should have called for help.
The Unequal Burden of Blood
Independent monitors and humanitarian groups have documented a disproportionate targeting of Christian communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt. – Open Doors International ranks Nigeria as the world’s deadliest place for Christians, reporting that 82 percent of all Christians killed globally in 2023 were Nigerians (World Watch List 2024). – Amnesty International recorded more than 10,000 deaths in the northern and central regions since 2023, many in Christian-majority areas. – HumAngle Media and the West Africa Security Tracker counted over 7,000 fatalities from armed violence in the first nine months of 2025 alone, despite official claims of “sporadic attacks.”
Muslim communities have also suffered under Boko Haram and ISWAP, yet Christian villages in the Middle Belt continue to bear a disproportionate share of faith-targeted killings. And yes, some argue that it’s not just Christians who are affected. That may be true — but it is the Christian communities who have reached their breaking point, who can no longer tolerate the attacks and are crying out for help. Nothing stops the Muslim community from crying out too. No one is silencing them — unless, of course, someone wants to keep them silent. With Christian leaders crying out that a genocide is taking place, Muslim leaders calling it an exaggeration, and the government caught between denial and minimisation — whose report shall we believe?
The Numbing of a Nation
We’ve made this about everything else except the people who are actually losing their lives every single day — being killed off like flies. Nigerians have heard about these killings for so long that many have accepted them as normal. And that’s the most dangerous part of it all: the normalization of terrorism, violence, chaos, dysfunction, and the destruction of human life. Human life in Nigeria has been made even more valueless. In Nigeria today, it is almost accepted that a whole village can be wiped out overnight, and by morning, life simply goes on — as if nothing happened. The worst part is that nobody even believes it could have been prevented, because they’ve lived so long with the idea that nothing ever is. They have surrendered to their own despair — and have stopped resisting the status quo of killings and death.
When Denial Becomes Complicity
Whenever international agencies or governments attempt to engage, Nigeria’s response is defensive. Each denial closes the door to potential support. Meanwhile, the killings continue — in Benue, Plateau, Kaduna, Zamfara, and beyond. Those who oppose international intervention have yet to provide an alternative. What other solution exists when a nation’s government refuses to act? Silence and sovereignty are not strategies — they are excuses.
The Complicity of Power
A war against Nigerian citizens has not been formally declared, but it has been informally waged — and a war against one’s citizens is, in truth, a war against the state itself. The leaders must rise, with courage and not convenience, to end this slaughter now. Whether Christians or Muslims are being slaughtered, the duty to protect them is the same. Every Nigerian life should matter equally. The haemorrhaging of blood has to stop. The first job of any government is to secure its people — its citizens. National security is a necessity, not an option.
About the Author
Davida Ademuyiwa, MA (Law), is a British politician and former councillor from Basildon and Billericay. She is the Founder and Chair of Black Tories; Founder of DaviGlobal UK, an investment and trade firm connecting capital with emerging economies; and Co-Founder of the Nigeria Transformation Council, a diaspora-led policy think tank. Davida also serves as a Policy Ambassador for the Conservative Policy Forum in the Eastern Region of England.
