American lawmaker Riley Moore has accused President Bola Tinubu’s administration of complicity in the attacks on Nigerian Christians, amid growing voices from the United States urging President Donald Trump to designate Nigeria as a ‘Country of Particular Concern’ over alleged genocidal attacks on Nigerian minorities, especially Christians.
In a conversation with Mario Nawfal, a podcast host, over the weekend, Mr Moore alleged a real genocide was happening in Nigeria.
“The government in Nigeria is complicit in the suffering of our brothers and sisters in Christ,” the lawmaker said. “If I should give some numbers really quick here: there have been 50,000 to 100,000 murdered Christians in Nigeria. This is an astounding number nobody is talking about. It’s genocidal numbers. And at the same period, we have had over 19,000 churches attacked or destroyed.”
Mr Moore, who represents West Virginia’s 2nd District in Congress, added, “Nobody seems to really care about it. This is something, as a Christian myself and a Catholic, this is something I deeply care about. My Christian brothers and sisters are being murdered in Nigeria, and this is me raising the alarm in the United States and say we have to do something. This is so alarming and concerning.”
The lawmaker further accused Mr Tinubu’s administration of “shameful silence”, insisting the government has continued to turn a blind eye to the attacks despite scores of churches destroyed and Christians murdered.
“It’s turning a blind eye to it. This has been going on for quite a while in Nigeria, and it’s the persecution and ethnic cleansing of Christians in the country of Nigeria by Islamic extremists. And there are three different types of groups to blame here,” the lawmaker explained. “One is Boko Haram; we are kind of familiar with it.”
Mr Moore added, “We have IS Africa, more ISIS aligned and you have these tribal people, most of them involved in cattle herdsmen, the Fulani. They have been, as of recent, a lot of killings. All three are to blame for this. And to me, the government of Nigeria is to blame for this as well.”
While acknowledging the efforts of the Nigerian government to stop Boko Haram, Mr Moore alleged a lack of presence in ensuring the protection of Christians, as demanded by the U.S. security assistance programmes in the country.
The lawmaker urged U.S. secretary of state Marco Rubio to designate Nigeria as a ‘Country of Particular Concern’. Mr Moore joined other Republican legislators relying on the Religious Freedom Accountability Act 2025 in urging Mr Trump to urgently intervene on the mass killings of Christians in Nigeria.
Mr Tinubu has rejected claims of a pogrom against Christians in the country.
