Massad Boulos, Senior Adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump on Arab and African affairs, has dismissed claims of a Christian genocide in Nigeria, emphasizing that terrorist groups such as Boko Haram have killed more Muslims in their attacks.
Boulos made the remarks on Friday in Rome, Italy, following a meeting with Nigerian President Bola Tinubu on the sidelines of the 2025 Aqaba Process Summit. The summit, hosted by Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, focuses on enhancing security cooperation across West Africa and the wider Sahel region. Leaders from Africa, the Middle East, and Europe are attending the high-level gathering.
Speaking to reporters, Boulos underscored the indiscriminate nature of terrorism in Nigeria and the region.
“Terrorism has no colour, no religion, and no tribe. People of all religions and backgrounds are suffering. Boko Haram and ISIS have, in fact, killed more Muslims than Christians,” he said. “It is not a conflict targeting one group over another—this is a broader humanitarian crisis.”
His comments come in response to recent calls by a U.S. lawmaker urging sanctions against Nigeria over alleged persecution of Christians and for the country to be designated a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) by the U.S. State Department.
Boulos acknowledged that Nigeria’s North Central region has experienced a series of deadly attacks, including significant Christian casualties. However, he cautioned against framing the violence along purely religious lines.
“Any loss of life is one too many,” he stated. “But we must be accurate in our assessments. The violence in Nigeria is driven by complex factors—extremism, poverty, and political instability—not solely religious persecution.”
Boulos also praised Nigeria’s diversity, describing it as a “melting pot of ethnicities and religions,” and commended recent efforts by the Tinubu administration to improve national security.
“We’re beginning to see progress under President Tinubu’s leadership. The government is taking steps to address the root causes of insecurity, and that is encouraging,” he said.
He reiterated the importance of deeper U.S.-Nigeria cooperation in counterterrorism and civilian protection.
“The United States remains committed to working alongside Nigeria to strengthen security and protect lives,” Boulos added.
The Aqaba Process Summit continues to serve as a key platform for fostering global partnerships in addressing terrorism and regional instability, particularly across West Africa and the Sahel.
Everyday.ng reports that in a powerful and emotional press conference held at the Abuja Hilton Hotel in the week, a visiting U.S. fact-finding team led by former Texas Mayor Mike Arnold publicly declared that a genocide targeting Christians is ongoing in Northern and Middle Belt Nigeria.
Arnold, founder of Africa Arise International and Africa Arise USA, presented a sweeping and deeply documented report at 4 p.m., drawing from years of personal investigation, fieldwork, survivor testimonies, and high-level consultations with Nigerian and international stakeholders. Flanked by retired U.S. Ambassador Lewis Lucke, Pastor Jed D’Grace, and filmmaker Judd Saul, Arnold accused both Nigerian and international actors of enabling, excusing, or ignoring a campaign of systematic violence against Christian populations.
“Based on more than five years of investigation and firsthand documentation,” Arnold declared, “I state without any shadow of a doubt: the campaign of violence and displacement in Northern and Middle Belt Nigeria does indeed constitute a calculated, current, and long-running genocide against Christian communities.”
Arnold stated that his mission to Nigeria, which was arranged at the request of Nigerian National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu and prominent commentator Reno Omokri, came with a singular mandate: “declare the truth.”
Having first visited Nigeria in 2010, Arnold said he has made 15 trips since then, including six investigative missions since 2019. This latest effort, however, culminated in what he called “a formal finding” of genocide under the terms of the 1948 UN Genocide Convention. The report draws on more than 80 hours of filmed interviews and extensive fieldwork conducted in cities and rural areas including Jos, Bokkos, Gwoza, Bukuma, and IDP camps in and around Abuja and Lagos.
“A Deliberate Crisis”
The report chronicles a shift from relative peace and interfaith coexistence in 2010 to what Arnold called “a deliberate crisis” unleashed by political and ideological manipulation following the 2015 general elections. It asserts that foreign interference—including alleged involvement by the U.S.—played a role in destabilising the country, opening the door for radical jihadist groups such as Boko Haram, ISWAP, and Fulani ethnic militias to expand their reach.
While the global narrative often centers on “farmer-herder clashes,” Arnold condemned this terminology as a dangerous euphemism.
“Calling these atrocities ‘clashes’ is like calling Bosnia’s ethnic cleansing a neighborhood dispute,” he said. “This is not chaos. This is conquest—ideological, territorial, and demographic.”
Field Evidence and Eyewitness Accounts
According to Arnold, his team has filmed in remote areas often denied or dismissed by officials, including Ngoshe in Gwoza LGA, Borno State—a former Christian farming town he now describes as a “post-apocalyptic wasteland.” He detailed a consistent pattern across multiple states:
• Churches destroyed, while mosques remain untouched
• Christian homes and villages razed
• Survivors labeled “vagrants” or “criminals” to suppress aid or recognition
• Jihadist resettlement on captured lands
The team also operates schools in two Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps—serving over 550 students from both Christian and Muslim backgrounds—and is constructing a third.
“We have met orphans whose parents were hacked to death,” Arnold stated. “We have seen the mass graves. We have heard the stories of abduction, forced conversion, and execution.”
A growing body of survivor testimonies, satellite imagery, and independent reporting points overwhelmingly to radical Fulani militias as the leading perpetrators of mass atrocities—often outpacing even Boko Haram and ISWAP in scale and lethality.
Three Forces Driving the Crisis
The report identifies three central forces behind the sustained violence:
• Radical Islamic Conquest – Aided by fighters from Libya and the Sahel, with ideological and political cover.
• Illicit Mineral Extraction – An estimated $9 billion in annual losses to illegal mining, with attacks often followed by rapid exploitation of displaced communities’ land.
• Political Realignment – Forced displacement as a tool to alter electoral boundaries and demographic compositions.
These elements, the report argues, converge to form a genocidal strategy masked by state and media euphemisms.
International Complicity and the Call for Truth
Arnold did not spare Western powers in his remarks. He accused international actors of ignoring or enabling the violence through silence, misinformation, or geopolitical maneuvering. He also alleged intentional misreporting by some media and the sanitisation of crimes by public officials.
“To deny what is happening is not confusion—it is complicity,” Arnold said. “There can be no solution while leaders play word games to bury the truth.”
Legal Grounds for Genocide
Quoting directly from Article II of the UN Genocide Convention, Arnold argued that the widespread killings, displacement, destruction of religious institutions, and denial of aid clearly meet the legal definition of genocide against a religious group.
A Plea for Unity and Action
Despite the grim findings, Arnold ended his presentation on a note of cautious hope.
“I believe Nigeria has a bright future. I believe in Christian-Muslim harmony. I believe good people of every tribe and faith must stand against this evil. But first, we must name it.”
“Here I stand. I can do no other. So help me God.”
The report is already being distributed to senior U.S. lawmakers, the White House, the U.S. State Department, human rights organsations, and international media. According to Arnold, several key U.S. figures—including Senator Ted Cruz and Congressman Chip Roy—have been briefed and are following the developments closely.
A documentary based on the team’s investigations, titled “Me & Ms. Hanatu”, is slated for release in the coming months.
