Information Minister, Idris insists there’s no religious genocide in Nigeria

Idris said, “Christianity is neither endangered nor marginalized in Nigeria,” adding that “the current heads of both the Armed Forces and the Police Force are Christians.”

By Kehinde Okeowo     

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, has refuted allegations that terrorists in the country are waging a systematic genocide against Christians, saying the claims are “false, baseless, despicable, and divisive.”

He made this known on Sunday in a statement while clarifying that the bandits attacks witnessed in Nigeria are not due to religious factors.

He added that portraying the country’s security challenges as a targeted campaign against a single religious group “is a gross misrepresentation of reality.”

Idris further said that claims tended to oversimplify a complex, multi-faceted environment and “plays into the hands of terrorists and criminals who seek to divide Nigerians along religious or ethnic lines.”

He noted that terrorist violence in Nigeria “is not confined to any particular religious or ethnic community,” stressing that  the criminals target “all who reject their murderous ideology, regardless of faith.

He said: “Muslims, Christians, and even those who do not identify with any religion have suffered at their hands.”

Idris, however, claimed that the President Bola Tinubu-led administration is rising up to the occasion.

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According to him, between May 2023 and last February, 13,543 terrorists and criminals were neutralized and nearly 10,000 hostages rescued in multiple operations across the country.

He added that the top leadership of Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina fi-Biladis Sudan (ANSARU), Nigeria’s Al-Qaeda affiliate, was captured last month in a coordinated counter-terrorism operation.

He listed those arrested to include Mahmud Muhammad Usman (aka Abu Bara’a/Abbas/Mukhtar), described as the group’s self-styled Emir, and Mahmud al-Nigeri (aka Mallam Mamuda), identified as Abu Bara’a’s proclaimed Chief of Staff and Deputy.

He said these “feats underscore the determination and success of our security forces and expose as unfounded the notion that Nigeria is passively tolerating religiously motivated terrorism.”

Reaffirming Nigeria’s religious diversity, Idris described the country as a multi-religious state with large populations of both Christians and Muslims

He described Nigeria as “home to one of the largest Muslim communities in the world, alongside some of the biggest Pentecostal churches and the largest Anglican congregation globally.”

Idris said, “Christianity is neither endangered nor marginalized in Nigeria,” adding that “the current heads of both the Armed Forces and the Police Force are Christians.”