THE Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, has rejected claims of genocide in Nigeria’s northern region following U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent threat to launch a military intervention over what he described as the “mass killing of Christians.”
Speaking at a press conference in New York yesterday, Youssouf emphasized that the situation in northern Nigeria was complex and should not be misrepresented.
“There is no genocide in northern Nigeria,” he stated. “The first victims of Boko Haram—the most prominent jihadist group in the region—are Muslims, not Christians.”
Trump had earlier taken to his Truth Social platform, alleging that radical Islamists were slaughtering Christians “in very large numbers” and warning that the U.S. would take swift military action if the Nigerian government failed to act. He described Christianity in Nigeria as facing an “existential threat.”
Youssouf, however, urged caution in framing the crisis, noting that Nigeria—a nation of about 230 million people divided roughly between a predominantly Muslim north and a Christian south—has long been affected by multifaceted conflicts, including jihadist insurgencies that kill people of all faiths indiscriminately.
According to United Nations figures, the Boko Haram insurgency, which began in 2009, has claimed more than 40,000 lives and displaced over two million people.
The AU chief called for collaborative international efforts to support Nigeria’s fight against terrorism rather than narratives that could further inflame religious tensions.