Borno South lawmaker, Ali Ndume, has stated that United States President, Donald Trump, is wrong to have declared Nigeria as a country of particular concern over claims of organized genocide against Christians in the country.
Ndume, who spoke on Tuesday during an interview on Arise News, submitted that the declaration by Trump was done from a place of ignorance and does not reflect the truth about happenings in Nigeria.
According to the Senator, terrorists are indeed killing people in Nigeria, but it is faulty to say Christians are the only victims. He added that the killings affect all Nigerians regardless of their religious or ethnic backgrounds.
Naijaonpoint reports that Ndume made the submission in his reaction to the designation of Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern (CPC)” by President Trump over claims of Christian genocide in the country.
The Borno lawmaker said the killings in the country affect both Christians and Muslims and have been going on for over sixteen years, but reached new heights with the Boko Haram killings.
“This is not to say that Christians are not being killed. What we have been saying is it’s not only the Christians that are being killed, but Muslims are also being killed too.
“This has been confirmed by both religion, there’s a lot of killings going on in Nigeria for the past 16 years and more from the Boko Haram insurgence in 2009. Nobody can deny that.
“But to say exclusively that the Christians are being targeted depends on where the event happens. If it happens in Plateau or a Christian dominated area, naturally it is the Christians that will be the victims as it is now in Benue and Plateau.
“If you go to other areas that are Muslim dominated, depending on the type of criminality that is going on there, the victims are naturally going to be the Muslims.
“If a church is attacked, the victims will be Christians, and if it’s a mosque the Muslims will be the victims. This is what’s going on in Nigeria right now.
“The Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists and ISIS are the bandits in the north-west that are killing Muslims in mosques because there are few churches there.
“And in Plateau, churches are being attacked by herdsmen who are Fulanis and the farmers who are predominantly Christians. It’s a matter that affects all Nigerians.
“For Trump to have come out is out of ignorance. I’ve been to America and an average American is innocently ignorant. Donald Trump himself is ignorant about what is happening in Nigeria and that is where the problem is,” Ndume said.
I Warned Nigerian Leaders
Speaking further, Ndume disclosed that he had, in the past, warned leaders of the country about the growing challenges of insecurity, but they treated the matter with levity.
He added that he recently moved a motion in the Senate to correct what he described as “misconceptions” about Nigeria’s religious crisis.
According to the Senator, former President Muhammadu Buhari had to meet Trump and convince him about the fight by the Nigerian government against terrorism.
He said, “I brought a motion titled the urgent need to correct the misconception going on where America wants Nigeria to be reclassified again as CPC because we’ve been on that list when Obama was in power.
“We were lifted when we were struggling, the attack of the insurgents was at its peak, and we desperately needed support.
“Buhari had to meet with Donald Trump then and convince him. I remember that Nigerian top government officials had to go before ICC to defend Nigeria against those allegations.
“But surprisingly when I brought this motion, this government was really more of indifferent about it and treated it with levity. Look at what is going on now.”
© 2025 Naijaonpoint, a division of NOP Media Inc. Contact us via [email protected]