Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala, has said that recent claims of a Christian genocide in Nigeria were triggered by the country’s position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, particularly its condemnation of the ongoing war in Gaza.
At the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York last month, Vice-President Kashim Shettima, who represented President Tinubu, delivered Nigeria’s statement.
Shettima had condemned the killing of civilians in the Middle East and reaffirmed Nigeria’s support for a two-state solution as the most viable path to peace between Israel and Palestine.
‘We do not believe that the sanctity of human life should be trapped in the corridors of endless debate’, Shettima had said.
‘That is why we say, without stuttering and without doubt, that a two-state solution remains the most dignified path to lasting peace for the people of Palestine’.
Speaking during an interview with France24 in Paris, Bwala said soon after Shettima’s comment, several Western figures began amplifying claims that Christians were being systematically targeted in Nigeria.
He described the allegations as ‘false and politically motivated’.
‘Those narratives began to spread after Nigeria condemned the inhumane treatment in Gaza’, he said.
‘Within 24 hours, a comedian in the U.S., Bill Maher, started pushing this Christian genocide campaign’.
He accused some American politicians, including Senator Ted Cruz and Representative Riley Moore, of relying on ‘inaccurate and contradictory’, reports to justify their claims.
Cruz had recently introduced a bill to protect what he called ‘persecuted Christians in Nigeria’, while Moore wrote to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, urging diplomatic action against the Nigerian government over alleged religious persecution.
Bwala dismissed these allegations, insisting that insecurity in Nigeria affects people of all faiths and is not religiously motivated.
‘We strongly object to the notion that there is systematic genocide in Nigeria he said. ‘Yes, we acknowledge there is insecurity, but those pushing a religious narrative are only trying to divide Nigerians’.
The presidential aide further argued that some Western actors were promoting the genocide claim to undermine Nigeria’s progress under the President Tinubu’s administration.
‘It is a cooked-up narrative by the West because they see that we are making gains with the economy and in the fight against insecurity’, he said.
The federal government has consistently denied claims of targeted killings of Christians, maintaining that its security operations address all forms of terrorism and violence without bias.
