A former Director of the British Council in Abuja, David Roberts, has dismissed reports suggesting that Christians in Nigeria are facing genocide, describing such claims as untrue.
Roberts, who previously served as a British diplomat in Nigeria, said it was “ridiculous” to suggest that half a million Christians were killed by Muslims in the country last year.
“Yes, there are security challenges in Nigeria, but those challenges have plagued the country from the pre-colonial to the colonial and now the post-colonial eras,” he said.
According to him, available data shows that Muslims have suffered more casualties from terrorist violence than Christians. He cited the Institute for Economics and Peace’s Global Terrorism Index, which notes higher fatalities among Muslims.
Roberts linked Nigeria’s worsening insecurity to instability in the Sahel, particularly the fall of democratic governments in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger—countries that share borders with Nigeria’s North-east and North-west. He said this has intensified pressure on Muslim communities in those regions.
“This is not some Christian genocide. As a matter of fact, more Muslims are killed in the face of these attacks in Nigeria than Christians,” he stated, while stressing that Christians are also affected by the violence.
Roberts urged Western governments and media outlets to adopt more accurate reporting on Nigeria’s security crisis to avoid fueling misinformation and to better address the humanitarian risks.
He warned that ignoring the crisis could result in a surge of refugees from West Africa attempting to reach Europe through the Mediterranean.
