The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has backed a United States lawmaker, Riley Moore, over his assertion that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is denying the widespread persecution and killing of Christians in Nigeria. The rights group said Moore’s position reflects the grim reality on the ground and urged the U.S. Congress to approve President Donald Trump’s earlier warnings of decisive military action against terrorist groups responsible for mass killings of Christians.
HURIWA said the pattern of denial from the Federal Government has become suspicious, noting that all the key officials defending the administration’s position (including the President, Vice President, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Minister of Information, are Muslims); a configuration the group described as one that continually dismisses or downplays the documented genocide against Christian communities. The association said this has emboldened killers and contributed to a climate of impunity.
The group referenced the U.S. lawmaker’s interview on Fox News, in which he described Tinubu’s remarks as “completely false” and accused Nigeria’s political leaders of being “complicit” in enabling attacks by extremist groups. Moore highlighted cases such as that of Sunday Jackson, the Adamawa Christian farmer sentenced to death for defending himself, as evidence of systemic bias.
HURIWA said multiple globally recognised reports have long established Nigeria as the deadliest country in the world for Christians. The group cited the Open Doors World Watch List, which consistently ranks Nigeria among the world’s top two most dangerous nations for Christians, with thousands killed yearly. It also referenced findings by Intersociety, which reported more than 7,000 Christian deaths in 2023 alone and over 50,000 killed since 2009 by jihadist groups including Boko Haram, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), and armed Fulani militias. Amnesty International, the International Crisis Group, and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) have also repeatedly warned that Christian communities face targeted killings, mass abductions, sexual violence, and forced displacement.
The association added that even global moral authorities have acknowledged the crisis. HURIWA recalled the recent statement by Pope Leo XIV condemning what he described as the “indiscriminate slaughter” of Christian populations in Nigeria and urging world powers not to remain silent while villages are razed and worship centres attacked. The Pope called for “international responsibility” to prevent further atrocities against believers in rural communities.
HURIWA urged the U.S. Congress to treat the scheduled hearing on the persecution of Christians in Nigeria as a matter of emergency and to adopt stronger measures, including approving Trump’s threat to deploy targeted military force against terrorist enclaves operating in Nigeria. The organisation said such a move would send a clear message to extremist groups that the international community would no longer tolerate the murder of Christians with impunity.
The association added that the Nigerian government must stop shielding the truth and should instead open itself to international cooperation aimed at dismantling terror networks responsible for mass killings. It said the continued denial by top officials only fuels further bloodshed.
HURIWA called on the world’s democracies to stand with vulnerable Christian communities across Nigeria, warning that the scale and consistency of attacks amount to a slow-motion genocide that requires immediate global intervention.
*Comrade Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko
