₦airaland Forum

MrPresident1:
We invite 'Bible scholars' image123, maxinthehouse to come and tell us the Biblical significance of President Donald Trump's visit to both Jerusalem and Egypt

OneCandleAway:
Taqquiya

hegelian:
The whole write up is gibberish, full of secret and partisanship that was claimed to avoid.. It was even opened with mentioning DJ which gave it away easily..

It's only a super religious bigot that will ignore the obvious religious persecution going on.. When all lands in Benue are seized from the owner, abeg who benefit from it?? The herders, bandits right.. So abeg what is the major religion of these bandits, herders even if they are not devout?

People like you are really the enemy of this country..

GENOCIDE AGAINST NIGERIAN CHRISTIANS – MY HONEST PERSPECTIVE @SenTedCruz

Insecurity is one topic I would rather avoid - a terrain I approach with trembling caution - because when the matter concerns the lives of humans, especially Nigerians, those who dare to speak must tread softly upon sacred ground. Such conversations must be guided by empathy, tempered by reason, and sanitized of partisanship. For when emotion trumps logic, truth becomes the casualty.

And so, I choose to abide by this noble creed which I have laid for myself - to set aside party loyalties and even my unshakable affection for our leader, the President - and, for this moment, speak purely as a bonafide Nigerian. This reflection shall therefore be without partisan bias and void of personal sentiment.

IS THERE A GENOCIDE AGAINST CHRISTIANS IN NIGERIA?

WHAT IS GENOCIDE?

To dissect any subject meaningfully, one must first define its anatomy, lest meaning becomes a mirage and emotion replaces evidence.

Under the 1948 Genocide Convention, genocide is not merely the mass killing of people - no. Genocide is defined by specific intent: the deliberate attempt to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. That intent - what jurists call dolus specialis - must be proven, not presumed.

Numbers don’t make a genocide; motive does. Just as a massacre cannot be declared merely because a DJ claimed she “lifted corpses while bullets flew endlessly,” so too genocide cannot be claimed without evidence of deliberate extermination.

WHO ARE THE ACTORS IN THESE VIOLENCE?

To diagnose a drama, one must first name the cast. For in identifying the dramatic personnel, the plot becomes clearer, and the motives, less mysterious.

In my youth, whenever a movie poster displayed Ramsey Nouah and Genevieve Nnaji, we knew instantly that romance was afoot - no need to glance at the title. But when the poster featured Pete Edochie or Chiwetalu Agu, one could wager it was either a land dispute or a journey through ritual fires.

So it is with Nigeria’s insecurity. Once you unveil the actors, the story reveals itself.

The key actors in this tragic theatre of chaos are:

1.Boko Haram / ISWAP in the Northeast

2.Bandits and Criminal Gangs in the Northwest

3.Fulani Militants / Herdsmen in the Middle Belt

Each actor plays a different role, with a distinct motive and method.

WHAT DRIVES THESE VIOLENT ACTORS?

Here lies the first flaw in the argument of our so-called “concerned friends” in the United States - they paint Nigeria’s complex insecurity with a single, lazy brushstroke, ignoring the multiple layers of motives and realities.

Let’s begin with Boko Haram.

Formed in 2002 by Mohammed Yusuf in Maiduguri, its ideology is written in its name. “Boko” (Western education) - “Haram” (forbidden). To them, Western learning was pollution, a corruption of the Islamic soul. Yusuf sold Boko Haram as a moral protest against what he saw as a corrupt Nigerian state, using sermons and debates as his tools of persuasion.

But in 2009, when security forces killed Yusuf and hundreds of his followers in a brutal crackdown, something dark was born from the ashes - the group transformed from an ideological movement to a vengeful militia. The pen gave way to the gun; the preacher became the avenger.

On September 7, 2010, Boko Haram launched its first major assault - a prison break in Bauchi State, freeing over 700 of its members. Hundreds died that day.
Now, to our American friends: shall we assume the Bauchi prison held only Christians? Or that the bullets magically avoided Muslim inmates?

Then came June 16, 2011 - Nigeria’s first-ever suicide car bombing, at the Abuja Police Headquarters. Dozens perished. The target? A national institution - not a church. Tell us, dear USA, did the Police Headquarters bear a “Christians Only” signboard?

And then, August 26, 2011 - the United Nations Headquarters
And then, August 26, 2011 - the United Nations Headquarters bombing in Abuja. Twenty-three souls gone, eighty injured. Were they all Christians? Did Boko Haram strike the UN because it was hosting a Sunday service?

On April 14 and May 1, 2014, twin bomb blasts tore through Nyanya Bus Station. Over 150 commuters perished.
Tell us again, did Boko Haram possess a passenger manifest that listed only Christians for that day’s travel?

And then came November 28, 2014 - a black day in Kano’s history. Multiple suicide bombings ripped through the Kano Central Mosque, killing over 120 worshippers and wounding 200 more.
They didn’t stop there - Mubi Mosque, Maiduguri Central Mosque, Dala, Mulai, Unaware, Gwoza, Damboa - all mosques, all attacked.
Dear USA, were those mosques secretly parishes of the Redeemed Christian Church of God?

THE VERDICT

From these evidences, Boko Haram’s motives are vengeance, rebellion, and domination - not religious cleansing. Their attacks are indiscriminate, their victims multi-faith, and their ideology a distortion even of the faith they claim to defend.

Thus, to label their barbarity as a genocide against Christians is not only false, but dishonours the thousands of Muslim victims who also fell beneath their bombs.

Boko Haram’s war is not against a religion - it is against reason itself.
💬 They do not fight for Islam, they fight to destroy what Islam, and indeed humanity, stands for.

2. BANDITS AND CRIMINAL GANGS

Unlike Boko Haram, bandits are men without a gospel - no creed, no cause, no conviction. Their only altar is greed, their only scripture, survival, and their only prayer, profit. They are vultures of violence, not missionaries of ideology - loosely organized warlords whose loyalty shifts with the weight of a coin. They do not kill for belief but for bread, they inflict damage not in the name of God but for the sake of gold.

Take for instance the Kankara Grammar School attack in Katsina State, on December 11, 2020 - the first major school abduction in the Northwest. Over 340 schoolboys were seized in a single night of horror. Now, dear USA, since your claim of “Christian genocide” is so confident, kindly show us the evidence - how a state like Katsina, where over 90% of the population is Muslim, suddenly had a school populated entirely by Christians on the day of the attack. Did the school declare a public holiday for Muslims, leaving only Christians behind to “fulfill prophecy”?

Then came the Zamfara village attacks of April 2019, when the fury of these armed marauders descended upon settlements like Kuru-Kuru, Jagir, and Kabalawa, leaving over 200 dead and villages reduced to ashes. The soil of Zamfara, soaked in grief, bore silent witness. Again, we ask our moral police from across the Atlantic: is Zamfara now a Catholic canton or a Pentecostal province?

Their crimes did not end in the trenches. On March 28, 2022, they struck the heart of Nigeria’s transportation lifeline - the Kaduna-Abuja train - deploying detonators that ripped the tracks apart. The attack left nine passengers dead and over sixty kidnapped for ransom. Here again, the burden of proof rests with our American narrators: kindly produce the train manifest that shows only Christians boarded that ill-fated journey.
These are not zealots with scriptures in their hands; they are mercenaries with triggers at their fingertips. Their allegiance is neither to the Cross nor to the Crescent, but to the currency. They may well be a Musa striking down a Taofeek, or a Moses taking the life of a Peter - their bullets make no theological distinction.

In the theatre of the Northwest, banditry is not a holy war - it is a business empire built on blood and ransom, where faith is irrelevant and humanity is expendable.

3.FULANI MILITANTS / HERDSMEN IN THE MIDDLE BELT

In the case of the Fulani herdsmen or militant groups, their violent eruptions are woven from a complex web of motives,
In the case of the Fulani herdsmen or militant groups, their violent eruptions are woven from a complex web of motives, yet none can be definitively traced to religion. Their story is not one of holy war, but of ancient friction, colonial negligence, and modern desperation.

A) Resource Competition

For centuries, the Fulani have been nomadic pastoralists, journeying with their cattle across grazing routes in search of water and fresh pasture.
In contrast, the indigenous communities of the Middle Belt and southern regions are sedentary farmers, whose survival depends on fixed farmlands and planted boundaries.

Thus began a tension as old as time:

The herder’s cattle demand open grassland.

The farmer’s livelihood depends on fenced crops.

When cows stray into cultivated lands, tempers flare, and conflict ignites.
This is not a dispute born in 2009, nor even in the age of independence - it is a centuries-old struggle between mobility and settlement, between the moving herd and the rooted seed.

B) Colonial Policies and Land Ownership Conflicts

During the British colonial era (1900–1960), policies were crafted that deepened the rift.
While the colonial government recognized certain grazing routes for pastoralists, it failed to legalize them. Meanwhile, land tenure systems favoured farmers, granting ownership through customary law.

The result was a dangerous imbalance: herders had “access” but no “rights.”
They could pass through the land but never claim it - a ticking time bomb that has now exploded across generations.

Thus, the seed of discord was sown long before Nigeria’s independence - and today we harvest its bitter fruit.

C) Population Pressure and Climate Change

At independence in 1960, Nigeria’s population stood at about 45 million.
Today, we are over 220 million strong - a fivefold increase. More mouths to feed means more farms to cultivate, and more farms mean less open land to graze.

As if nature itself conspired in the crisis, climate change began to choke the North.
Lake Chad receded, grazing belts withered, and the Sahara crept southward, driving desperate herders into already crowded agricultural zones.

The result? A moving frontier of conflict, especially across Plateau, Benue, Nasarawa, Taraba, and Southern Kaduna - regions now etched in memory by tragedies like Agatu, Nimbo, Southern Kaduna, and Wukari.

Yet, beneath the smoke and blood, the motive remains economic, not religious.
Unless, of course, the United States wishes to convince us that these herders first check baptismal certificates before their cows graze — or that their cattle have somehow been trained to feast only on born-again crops.

In Summary

Just as Boko Haram’s attacks in Muslim-majority areas like Zamfara naturally claim more Muslim casualties, so too, when herders strike in Christian-majority regions like Benue, more Christians fall victim - not because of faith, but because of geography.

Their violence Is not sanctified by religion, but driven by greed, ignorance, and lapses in governance.

FINAL WORD TO THE UNITED STATES

To those in the United States who hastily raise the banner of “Christian genocide,” it may be time to look in the mirror - and ask if the reflection staring back bears the marks of hypocrisy.

On April 16, 2007, at Virginia Tech, a gunman killed 32 students and wounded many more. Most were confirmed Christians.
On December 14, 2012, at Sandy Hook Elementary School, 20 children and 6 adults were slaughtered.
On February 13, 2023, at Michigan State University, more lives were lost in yet another senseless shooting.

Should Africa now proclaim a “genocide against Christians” in America?
Or perhaps, a “genocide against children”?

Truth demands balance.
Before the USA points to the speck in Nigeria’s eye, it should first remove the log in its own - especially when the roots of our insecurity can be traced, in part, to America’s invasion of Libya, which flooded Africa with small arms, now in the hands of our local demons.
But perhaps that is a discussion for another day.

In Conclusion

Every Nigerian life lost is a national tragedy.
And for every such death, the government bears blame, for the security of lives and property is its foremost duty - as enshrined in Section 14, Subsection 2(b) of our Constitution.

But we must be honest in diagnosis, lest we prescribe the wrong medicine for the wrong disease.

Yes - Nigeria faces an insecurity crisis.
But no - it is not a religious war.
It is the collapse of order, not a clash of faiths.

Our problem is not between the Cross and the Crescent - it is between the governed and our system that didn’t do enough to protect them before now.

Brendaniel:
Yes, because the naira has a dollar value

Ttalk:
I was surprised when the guy said our budget was calculated in dollars. I don't just want to disrupt the flow of the conversation between the two of you.

Crude oil revenue is pegged in dollar but Nigeria still earned other revenue in different currencies and the overall budget is computed and calculated in naira.

I doubt if the guy has ever seen any copy of Nigeria budget before

Brendaniel:
But has a dollar value which I presented

Brendaniel:
If you have a problem with the FAAC calcu;lated in dollars because we don't spend in dollars, why is the value of naira always calculated in dollars by your FG, CBN and even you?

OLAADEGBU:
image123, come and see something.

“We know Boko Haram are killing more Muslims than Christians” – US envoy acknowledges pic.twitter.com/Ckp2tCc6bw

— Kemisola (@Stainlesz05) October 17, 2025

Brendaniel:
The are still calculated based on the crude oil prices in dollars...

Brendaniel:
it is tribalism na, nothing else , God almighty has the best purpose for me not from your own opinion...

Brendaniel:
Your budget and benchmark for the year is calculated in dollars, your GDP is also calculated in dollars but you are trying to tell me that the FAAC sharing should not also be calculated in dollars

Brendaniel:
Governors and politicians are supporting Tinubu for money and power, what is Ola and other Yoruba sounding names supporting him for?

ichuka:
You won't see him here

Tucker has broken the matrix! pic.twitter.com/3cDDhUkyfQ

— Furkan Gözükara (@FurkanGozukara) October 16, 2025

Brendaniel:
I asked you that question for a reason, Nigeria GDP is usually based in what currency?

Brendaniel:
When you were busy supporting Muslim Muslim ticket because Tinubu was a Yoruba man, you didn't think of all these right, I even called you out then you ignored me, the person you are calling out is also a Tinubu supporter, you people are just playing each other because you people decide to remove logic and common sense to support tribal or religious supremacy.

Brendaniel:
If I may ask, what the GDP of Nigeria?

Brendaniel:
Are we talking about government employees or government's earning and spending which you admitted is in dollars...

Brendaniel:
Good, that means your government indirectly spends in dollars, so every money shared and spent by the government should also be revealed in dollars so that people know the real value of what the government is earning and spending which is partly what I have just done there....

Hedonisco:
In other words, the joke is on the masses - and everything is at the masses expense. Inflation due to Naira devaluation and fuel subsidy removal caused a 3-4 fold increase in prices of goods and services while, the salaries of the common man was increased by more or less 100%.

Essentially, by some warped wuruwuru 'financial engineering', these political bandits shortchanged the masses by increased the value of naira at their disposal whilst simultaneously 'uselessing' the value of the Naira income of the poor salary earners and ordinary Nigerians.. But for some of you apologists, this is something to celebrate?

Brendaniel:
And yet your government uses benchmark in dollars to setup and estimate your budget...

Brendaniel:
You don't still get the point, Tinubu has done 2 trillion , the problem is 700 billion in Buhari's time has more value than the 2 trillion Tinubu is doing now

Brendaniel:
this calculation is for monthly

Brendaniel:
I explained something this morning:

Under Buhari, FG shared as much as 700 billion naira , when converted to dollars that translates to about 1.5 billion dollars at the time, now in Tinubu's administration, the highest he has shared is about 2 trillion and that translates to just about 1.3 billion dollars, the screenshots are all there(CBN official rates where used for both calculations)

You can see from the analysis that Tinubu has not done anything better than Buhari infact he has even done worse, and who are the people paying for his nonsense, the citizens, imagine removing subsidy, then increasing money that he has devalued beyond Buhari's time to give to state that cannot do what could be done during Buhari's time and still borrowing recklessly and still taxing the citizens more than Buhari and still taking more loans like the country is completely broke...

At who's expense? the citizens, What is really annoying me about Tinubu's presidency is the fact that the man is busy destroying the country for his personal gains and blame is been thrown to other people, or he is being praised for doing better than what his predecessors did when in reality the reverse is the case.