The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has countered claims of alleged Christian genocide in Nigeria, noting that between January and August 2025 alone, bandits have killed dozens of Muslims in several attacks, including in mosques.
The CNG also fired back at United States President Donald Trump over what it described as his reckless, arrogant, and dangerous threats of possible military action against Nigeria, following allegations of genocide against Christians.
Addressing journalists at the group’s national secretariat in Abuja, the CNG National Coordinator, Jamilu Aliyu Charanchi, said Trump’s comments were a direct attack on Nigeria’s sovereignty and part of a wider Western propaganda campaign designed to destabilise Africa’s most populous nation.
“This statement is not only ignorant, it is dangerous. It distorts Nigeria’s complex security realities and fuels sectarian divisions that millions of peace-loving citizens are struggling to overcome,” Charanchi declared.
According to the coalition, Trump’s outburst was triggered by a manipulated petition allegedly engineered by Amnesty International and promoted by its Nigeria Country Director, Isa Sanusi.
CNG claimed the petition was cynically designed to give credibility to a toxic Western narrative of Christian persecution, describing it as part of a broader campaign to justify foreign interference in Nigeria’s domestic affairs.
“There is no genocide against Christians in Nigeria,” the statement read.
“There is a national security crisis affecting all Nigerians — Muslims, Christians, and others alike.”
Citing figures from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), CNG said available evidence proves that Muslims, not Christians, are the majority victims of violence across Northern Nigeria.
Between January 2020 and September 2025, CNG noted, more than 20,400 civilians were killed in violent attacks nationwide. Of these, 417 Muslim deaths and 317 Christian deaths were recorded in incidents where religious identity could be verified.
“The Western media’s portrayal of Christians as exclusive victims is false,” CNG argued. “From Zamfara to Borno, Katsina to Sokoto, the overwhelming victims are Muslims — men, women, and children killed in mosques, markets, and along roadsides.”
The group further cited ACLED’s 2024 report showing 9,662 people killed in violent incidents across Nigeria, with 86 percent of deaths occurring in the northern region — 41 percent in the North-West, 25.9 percent in the North-East, and 19.3 percent in the North-Central.
“This data completely destroys the so-called Christian genocide narrative being promoted by foreign actors,” the group stated.
CNG also referenced security analyst Bulama Bukarti, who in October 2025 warned that changing service chiefs without reform would not end the violence.
“Boko Haram and ISWAP kill Muslims and Christians alike, but their largest victims are Muslims by far,” Bukarti said — a statement CNG quoted to underscore that Nigeria’s security challenges are rooted in leadership failure and institutional weakness, not religion.
“Our tragedy is not a religious war. It is the failure of government to protect citizens, punish corruption, and provide justice,” CNG said.
The coalition listed several major attacks allegedly ignored by the international community because the victims were Muslims: on January 11, 2025, bandits killed 21 people in Baure, Katsina State; on August 19, 2025, gunmen stormed a mosque in Malumfashi, slaughtering more than 50 worshippers during dawn prayers; between March and October 2025, dozens were killed in repeated attacks across Anka, Maru, and Tsafe LGAs in Zamfara State.
CNG lamented that none of these atrocities made global headlines because the victims were Muslims.
The group also revisited the Zaria massacre of December 2015, in which more than 340 members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) — mostly Shiite Muslims — were killed. Despite satellite evidence and reports from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, the group noted, no U.S. administration, including Trump’s, ever condemned the killings.
“This silence further exposes Western double standards and selective morality in Nigerian affairs,” Charanchi said.
The CNG described the Christian genocide claim as a strategic deception meant to justify potential foreign intervention and serve geopolitical interests.
“For decades, the United States and its allies have used human rights as camouflage for resource control — from Iraq to Libya. They create moral crises, weaponise global outrage, and then invade under the guise of liberation. Nigeria will not be their next experiment,” the group warned.
According to the coalition, Trump’s sudden concern for persecuted Christians is a smokescreen, arguing that his real frustration stems from Nigeria’s growing diplomatic independence and closer relations with China, Russia, and the Global South.
In a direct message to the former U.S. president, the coalition declared: “Keep your threats to yourself. Nigeria is a sovereign nation, not a client state. We welcome dialogue based on facts and mutual respect — not bombast and blackmail.”
The group called on the Nigerian government to take firm action against insecurity, describing the persistent killings across the North as an indictment of political incompetence.
“Our fight is not against each other; it is against those who steal our future — the corrupt politicians, reckless governors, and compromised judges who have turned Nigeria into a battlefield,” Charanchi said.
