Nigeria—A Real Crisis or a Distraction?

The Trump administration, following the President’s post, shared that the United States had attacked terrorists in Nigeria.  To be fair, President Trump had warned Boko Haram that if they continued to carry out attacks on Christians that they would pay a heavy price.  The question that should be asked is, “Are terrorist organizations in Nigeria targeting Christians in a jihad?”  The answer should be easy to find in the news media.  However, there has been little to no mention of a jihad against Christians in Nigeria, except in social media, blogs, and right leaning Christian media.  Mainstream churches have not mentioned any concerns.  Mainstream non-biased media had not covered any stories related to a Christian jihad.  The Nigerian government, while struggling with political turmoil, did not report any targeted attacks on only Christians. 

Questions need to be asked and researched, and the source of the reporting needs to be considered in any evaluation.  I advise you to look to mainstream media that generally do not have a right or left leaning bias.  To verify this check out the AllSides Media Bias Chart (allsidesmedia.com) or The Media Bias Chart (adfontsmedia.com).

Are Christians being killed?  Yes, but so are Muslims and other Nigerians.  Nigeria is a nation with mostly Christians in the north and Muslims in the south.  There have been clashes between farmers and herders in central Nigeria, much like the former problems in our own country decades ago.  The herders are primarily Muslim, while the farmers are generally Christian.  Most of these disputes are over access to water and pasture. However, there is little evidence that either group is disproportionately at fault.  Olajumoke Ayandele, an assistant professor at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs who specializes in conflict studies, told the AP that the violence in Nigeria represents widespread killings rather than targeted attacks against a specific group.

What are the neutral mainstream media saying? The BBC reports that there is NO evidence that more Christians are being killed than Muslims.  Al Jazeera reported that there are reports of attacks by Boko Haram and other fringe groups.  However, the attacks do not target only Christians.  The attacks are not about religion.  The Associated Press reports that analysis does not support the idea of genocide as defined by the United Nations.  There is no one group dedicated to destroying a religious group.  Reports claiming “Christian genocide” hide the fact that Nigeria is having an ongoing civil conflict.

Although less known, the Armed Conflict Location and Event (ACLED) organization reports that most of the victims of Boko Haram and the Islamic State have been Muslims.   Since 2009, 53,000 civilians have been killed due to internal civil conflicts.  The group reports that data from right wing Christian groups claiming that 100,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria, is not supported by the data.  Most deaths are attributed to political power grabs, land disputes, cult affiliations, and simple banditry.  (acleddata.com March 15, 2024)

The issues in Nigeria are not about Christian genocide.  The U.S. involvement appears to be another distraction from the political turmoil in Washington.