Over the weekend, Ryan Garcia, a Professional American boxer, took to Instagram to offer help to Nigerian Christians who are purportedly being targeted for killings.
“Does anyone know how l can help the people of Nigeria? Christians are getting slaughtered and eradicated at crazy numbers. If you haven’t heard about it, go look it up. It’s nuts. As Christians and just humans, we need to try to help”, he added in the post.
Garcia’s post was supposedly based on the comment of American comedian, Bill Maher, who claimed 100,000 Christians had been killed in an ongoing genocide in Nigeria.
Speaking on the September 26, 2025 edition of HBO talk show, “Real Time with Bill Maher”, Maher had said: “Nigeria, the fact that this issue has not gotten on people’s radar, it’s pretty amazing. If you don’t know what’s going on in Nigeria, your media sources suck. You are in a bubble.
“I’m not a Christian, but they are systematically killing the Christians in Nigeria. They’ve killed over a hundred thousand since 2009. They’ve burned 18,000 churches. These are the Islamists, Boko Haram. This is so much more of a genocide attempt than what is going on in Gaza. They are literally attempting to wipe out the Christian population of an entire country.”
Ironically, hours before Maher went live, bandits invaded a mosque during Subh (early morning prayer) in Yandoto village, Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
According to witnesses, after invading the mosque, the assailants opened fire indiscriminately, killing five people on the spot and leaving many others with gunshot wounds.
The police later identified the victims as Sale Dangero, 75, Mamman Yaro, 72, Malam Lawali Bataribas, 67, Malam Jafaru, a rtd ASP, 68, and Malam Safiyanu, 55.
About a month before the attack, at least 27 worshippers were gunned down at a mosque in the remote community of Unguwan Mantau in Malumfashi local government area Katsina state.
The gunmen opened fire inside a mosque as people gathered to pray.
Three years before that incident, St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Owo Local Government Area of Ondo State was invaded, with nearly 50 worshippers killed in the process.
As worshippers inside the church were attending Mass and celebrating Pentecost, a group of gunmen entered the church disguised as congregants, carrying bags that contained firearms. Another group took positions outside the church.
Improvised explosive devices were detonated outside the church and both groups began firing on worshippers in a coordinated attack.
Those outside the church shot directly into it while those disguised as congregants fired from inside.
Five men who were arrested in connection with that incident are currently standing trial at a Federal High Court in Abuja. The high level of insecurity in Nigeria has made it difficult to blame a specific group or sect for killings.
Despite several efforts by the government to stem the ugly trend, it has sadly continued. Regardless of faith, many Nigerians have suffered in the hands of attackers.
At least 15 people, including women and children, were killed on August 18, 2025, when armed men launched a coordinated evening assault on farming villages in Chakfem District, Mangu County of Plateau state.
The attackers entered the villages of Tim, Koppang, Mihidihin, Jiblang, Jilem, Jibin, and Manden between 7:30 and 8 p.m., firing weapons, burning homes, looting livestock, and displacing thousands of residents, mainly Christians.
Eyewitnesses reported that several houses were set on fire, including the residence of the traditional ruler, whose official vehicle was damaged.
About one month prior to this incident on June 20, 2025, 13 of 32 persons identified as Muslims who were travelling in an 18-seater bus from Basawa community in Zaria, Kaduna State, to Qua’an Pan LGA of Plateau, were killed.
They were said to be travelling to attend a wedding ceremony when they ran into the assailants who also set ablaze the bus conveying them.
Earlier in March, 16 Muslim travellers who were transiting from Port Harcourt in Rivers State to Kano State, were murdered in Uromi, Edo State. The victims, who were hunters, were returning home for the Sallah celebration when they ran into an ambush.
In the South East, there have been numerous attacks on Muslim, Fulani by militants of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Eastern Security Network (ESN).
In May 2022, a Muslim woman, her four children and six others, all of them of northern extraction, wee killed in Anambra State. The pregnant woman and her children were killed at Isulo, Orumba North Local Government Area of the state.
The Sarkin Hausawa of Orunba North LGA, Alhaji Sa’id Muhammad, had said northerners in Anambra had made up their minds to leave the state because of the constant killing of their relatives by IPOB and ESN.
Apart from that incident, five Muslim commercial motorcycle riders were also killed and their bikes burnt at Onocha LGA. The bodies of four of the deceased were deposited in the morgue while the fifth one was burnt to ashes.
Another man simply identified as Abdullahi, who was selling roasted meat by the roadside at Nnanka, still in Anambra, was also killed at his suya spot.
Daily Trust had reported how some trucks conveying goods to the South were also set ablaze in Anambra and the drivers and other occupants were killed, injured or disappeared without a trace.
As earlier stated, the pattern of the crime shows that it is not targeted at a particular group of people, as Christians, Muslims and adherents of other faiths have fallen victims to the dastardly act.
A retired DSS Director, Dr. Sulyman Bolakale Abdulsalam, faulted the Christian genocide claim, arguing that no one carries a religious label on their head in communities where Muslims and Christians live together.
He noted that there has been no report of such incidents in predominantly Christian areas such as Southern Zaria and Kaduna or in Christian-dominated states like Ondo, Ekiti, and Ogun, among others.
According to him, banditry is a nationwide menace that has spread across the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria, with no region immune.
Citing the recent attack in Oke-Ode, Kwara State, where 12 people were killed, Dr. Abdulsalam asked whether such could be described as Christian genocide.
“Majority of the victims were Muslims, and there is no evidence of selective killings based on religion,” he said.
He further stressed that what the government needs now is to return to the drawing board and adopt proactive measures by making security intelligence more exciting and attractive, particularly to those with security backgrounds who can act swiftly.
“These are far better than reactive steps,” he added.
For his part, a retired Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), who craved anonymity, dismissed the Christian genocide narrative as “a lie from the pit of hell.”
“This is a verifiable fact. This is not religious terrorism, because religious terrorism has defined targets and rules. What we are witnessing is pure terrorism with Muslims and Christians alike as victims.
“I believe this is simply an attempt to discredit the government for selfish motives,” he said.
While acknowledging that it may be too early to fully uncover the propaganda behind the narrative, the former police chief maintained that Nigerians must understand the claim as baseless and frivolous.
“If you call this genocide against the people of Plateau State, would you also classify attacks in Muslim-dominated areas in Kwara, Borno and Kano among others as genocide against Muslims? This is a general security problem,” he added.
The Christian genocide narrative in Nigeria supposedly gained traction after the address of Vice President Kashim Shettima at the United Nations last week.
Shettima had said the situation in Gaza is “heart-wrenching” and demanded an immediate ceasefire that will birth Palestinians independence and a home of their own on territories already recognised by the UN and international law.
He said a two-state solution remains the most viable path to peace and warned that continued neglect of international law only fuels propaganda and undermines global stability.
CONCLUSION
Based on the pattern of the killings, it will be unfair to say that a particular group is being targeted. There’s no justification to the claim that Nigerian Christians are facing genocide.
DAILY TRUST.
