Senior Adviser to United States President Donald Trump on Arab and African Affairs, Massad Boulos, has stated that terrorist groups like Boko Haram and ISIS have killed more Muslims than Christians in Nigeria.
Boulos dismissed claims of religious persecution in the country, describing them as inaccurate and misleading.
He made this known in a video shared by the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) on X on Friday while reacting to comments from some US politicians who alleged that Christians were being targeted in Nigeria.
‘Any incident, any loss of life is absolutely unfortunate. Those who know the terrain well know that terrorism has no colour, no religion and no tribe. People of all religions and all tribes are dying as a result of terrorist acts. We even know that Boko Haram and ISIS are killing more Muslims than Christians. So people are suffering from all sorts of backgrounds. This is not specifically targeted about one group or the other’, he said.
Boulos said the violence in the country was not driven by religion but by broader insecurity affecting all Nigerians.
He also spoke on clashes between herders and farmers in parts of the Middle Belt, saying they were not rooted in religious division.
‘There are other incidents that happen to be in the Middle Belt, for example, where farmers are located. Most of these farmers happen to be Christian, and some herdsmen are going through, and they have these incidents. But it’s not something that we can say is specifically targeted about this specific group’, he explained.
Boulos commended President Bola Tinubu’s administration for its efforts to strengthen security in volatile areas, saying the results were already becoming visible.
‘The Nigerian government and the President Tinubu’s administration have recently taken additional measures and put more resources in those areas. We’ve seen some improvements in recent weeks. We appreciate those measures, and we definitely look forward to more of those’, he said.
He praised Nigeria’s record of religious coexistence and urged citizens to see the country’s diversity as a source of strength.
‘Nigeria is a country in which all sorts of religious groups and other groups, ethnic and tribal, are living together in harmony for centuries. The population is split 50-50 between Christians and Muslims, so this has never been a serious religious issue and should not be’, he said.
Boulos called for stronger collaboration between Nigeria and the United States to fight terrorism and maintain peace across the country.
His remarks come amid renewed debate in Washington after some US lawmakers called for Nigeria to be reclassified as a ‘Country of Particular Concern’.
US Senator Ted Cruz had accused Nigerian officials of ‘ignoring and even facilitating the mass murder of Christians by Islamist jihadists’.
He also claimed that Christians were being targeted for their faith and subjected to sharia and blasphemy laws.
Cruz introduced the Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act in the US Senate to sanction officials deemed responsible.
Similarly, Riley Moore, a US Congressman representing West Virginia’s 2nd District, wrote to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, urging him to designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern and suspend arms sales until the government shows commitment to protecting Christians.
The designation, meant for nations accused of serious violations of religious freedom, was applied to Nigeria in 2020 under Trump’s administration but removed by former President Joe Biden in 2021 — a move that drew criticism from some conservative groups.
