In a rare development in Nigeria’s multifaceted, multi-religious and multi-ethnic society, Christians and Muslims yesterday rejected the claim by some prominent United States officials that there is an ongoing genocide against Christians in Nigeria.

Decrying it as a misconception, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the north as well as the Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), the umbrella group for the Nigerian Muslim community as well as the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) stated that the killers should be regarded as criminals who have no preference for any religious sect.

They dismissed the United States’ recent classification of attacks by terrorists in the country as “genocide,” describing the claim as exaggerated and capable of deepening divisions in an already fragile nation.

According to CAN, JNI and MURIC, while violent attacks on religious communities are tragic and unacceptable, the situation in Nigeria is far more complex than the US report suggests, explaining that attributing the crisis solely to religion ignores the underlying causes such as poverty, banditry, and political manipulation.

CAN Chairman in the 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Reverend Joseph Hayab, described the insurgents as ‘divide and rule’ individuals, explaining that apart from the significant attacks on Christians in the early days of insurgency, it is now a war against the entire country and not solely against a particular religious belief.

“What we find strange is the exaggeration of the figure (of casualties). The figure that is being played around is an exaggeration, it is outrageous. We don’t understand that. These terrorists, when they started, eventually moved beyond just killing Christians and started killing virtually everybody. And they have continued with that.

“Fortunately for us, in the last two years, the development has started changing. Because in Kaduna, I remember that between 2016 to 2023 May, I was practically burying either 20, 30, 50 people per week or per month. But there’s a shift because of the ongoing efforts of going after the terrorists. And I have forgotten the last time, I can say that in the last 12 months or probably 16 months, I have not buried anybody apart from those who died naturally,” Hayab stated.

The CAN’s top official kicked against calls to put Nigeria on the list of ‘countries of particular concern’ by the US, stressing that if the United States wanted to protect the common man, no such decision should be made.

“When you put Nigeria in the country of particular concern, at this time, you’re simply saying terrorists, go and have your way and destroy them. So, the common people you claim you want to protect, you’re no longer thinking about them because you will deny our military from getting arms across the world. And once they don’t have arms, the terrorists will just be free to kill virtually everybody.

“So, there’s nothing that warrants that at this moment. But killings have happened. No one should deny that. And I’ve always told people who care to listen, the reason that we have reached where we are was the denial of yesterday,” the religious leader said.

Hayab disclosed that the terrorists even go after certain Muslims who refuse to associate with their extremism, emphasizing that the killings cut across and are not particularly focused on Christians.

“Two mosques have been attacked in the last two months in Katsina. So, we have an issue, a serious problem with terrorists that started with Christians, now they are going everywhere. Why don’t we join hands to push them where they belong?, he queried.

As someone from Kaduna, he highlighted the success recorded so far, stressing that the Abuja-Kaduna road was a death trap as recently as 2023, but that the situation was changing.

Also speaking at the meeting which was convened by public commentator, Reno Omokri, Islamic thought leaders in Nigeria led by Jama‘atu Nasril Islam (JNI) Secretary General, Prof. Aliyu Abubakar, thanked the US delegation for attempting to hear all the sides to the Nigerian story.

“Without hearing from the other side, it really was a baffling thing, and we’re really very surprised. The US, the leader of democracy and freedom of speech, without hearing from both sides, a decision was taken,” he lamented.

He dismissed the insinuation that the terrorists were killing on behalf of Islam, stressing that there was no plan to exterminate or obliterate Christianity. “It’s an act of criminality. And we can never get it right until we stop linking it to any religious group. Crime is a crime. Criminality is criminality. It has no bound, it has no colour, it has no religion,” he argued.

Also speaking, a cybersecurity expert and former Minister of Communication, Prof. Isa Pantami, stressed that people claiming to be Muslims, perpetrating the insecurity in the North, like Boko Haram, have in the past issued death threats to many Islamic scholars, including himself.

“They had a list of scholars to eliminate when they started fighting. My name was number one. And this is as early as 2009. Why? Because I debated their late leader Muhammad Yusuf on their ideology, and with the support of the Almighty God, I defeated him.

“If you watch the debate for almost six hours. Before then, Sheikh Jafar, a respected Islamic scholar, graduate of the University of Madinah, Saudi Arabia, was eliminated. Sheikh Muhammad Awal Albani, a respected scholar, was also eliminated, in addition to so many scholars. These are people claiming to be doing it for Islam. In February 2022, their late leader was on air, including BBC, commanding his followers to eliminate me.

“If they are doing it for Islam, why would they go to BBC to say that I must be eliminated, because I am a threat to their ideology, because we challenge their ideology, that this ideology is un-Islamic and is not representing the position of Islam.

“So this is to show you that the criminality is not about religion. It is criminal in general. And this criminality is affecting Muslims, Christians and others. All these religion’s adherents are being killed under this criminality. So there is no justification whatsoever for anyone to claim that it is an ideology,” Pantami maintained.

He stated that rather than point fingers, Nigerians must come together to fight the menacing insecurity, highlighting how Muslims who were praying in Katsina were killed recently.

In his remarks, MURIC’s Prof. Ishaq Akintola described the US’ position as “misrepresentation, misinformation and disinformation, adding that there is nothing like deliberate religion-related killing of Christians or Muslims.

“Muslims are not killing Christians. What is happening is, it’s basically economic warfare. People are hungry. People are jobless. People are desperate. And the idle hand, they say, is the devil’s workshop,” he pointed out.

For instance, he said the problem in the North Central, especially in Benue and Plateau, were largely ethnic clashes between herdsmen and farmers, maintaining that it’s been there for decades.

Earlier, the US officials, including the erstwhile Mayor of Blanco, Mike Arnold, a campaigner for religious freedom and an associate of US Senator, Ted Cruz, who has been pushing the agenda that Christians were being specifically targeted in Nigeria, noted that his preliminary findings showed that both religions were significantly impacted by the attacks.

Arnold told THISDAY that his fact-finding mission revealed that Christians were mostly affected in Christian populated areas, while Muslim were impacted in majority of areas, where believers of Islam were frequently attacked by the terrorists and bandits.

“I still have multiple meetings with very important people. My main passion and calling is to serve…The tales of trauma and escape and survival are chilling. And for 10 years, they’ve been in this camp. That’s all they have. That’s where they were told to stay, but no assistance, no aid, they are called criminals and beggars. These are people that were productive, school principals and people like that had everything taken away.

“And now they have nothing, and there’s no way out. And they get bulldozed. I mean, it’s inconceivable. I’m intentionally keeping an open mind on some things because I’m here to find facts,” he stated, but noted that from the camps he visited, but Muslims and Christians were affected.

Also speaking, author, Omokri, stated that Nigerians were upset about the insinuations that the killings were motivated by religion, stressing that many people feel it’s a plan to undermine Nigeria, especially after the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, recently spoke at the United Nations General Assembly about Nigeria’s position on the Gaza problem.

“And Senator Ted Cruz is not an evil man. Senator Ted Cruz is a person that means well for Nigeria. He’s a person that means well for the Christian community. Governor Greg Abbott is also a Christian and he means well for the Christian community. However, they do not understand the issues.

“And because they don’t understand the issues, I decided to invite someone that is a personal friend of Senator Ted Cruz. He briefed Senator Ted Cruz before he came and someone that is personally known to Governor Abbott and us as well as a filmmaker to come here and visit IDP camps”, Reno Omokri stated.

He stated that after visiting some IDP camps, there was a consensus that both Christians and Muslims were equally being attacked.

“One of the things that might surprise the American public is that in the IDP camps, they found Muslims and they found Christians and in some cases, more Muslims than Christians,” Omokri said.

In the same vein, an American film maker, Jeff Gibbs, decried the sufferings that IDPs were subjected to, but noted that he has observed that all religions were represented in the camps. “One camp is almost fully Christian. When we go to Durumi, it’s a different environment. Almost fully Muslim,” he stated. (THISDAY)