The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, has faulted claims by the United States that Christians are being targeted for genocide in Nigeria, insisting that “Muslim lives matter too.”
Onanuga made the remark on Saturday in response to a post on 𝕏 (formerly Twitter) by U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, who commented on President Donald Trump’s decision to designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) over alleged persecution of Christians.
Rubio had described the “ongoing slaughter of thousands of Christians in Nigeria by radical Islamists and Fulani ethnic militias” as “tragic and unacceptable.”
“As @POTUS said, the United States stands ready, willing, and able to act,” Rubio added.
Responding to Rubio’s post, Onanuga dismissed the claims as “gross exaggerations” and urged the U.S. to approach Nigeria’s security challenges with objectivity rather than religious bias.
“Secretary Rubio, Muslim lives matter too,” he wrote.
He clarified that the wave of insecurity across Nigeria was driven by terrorism and criminality, not by religion.
He stated, “There is no ongoing slaughter of thousands of Christians in Nigeria. What we do have are sporadic attacks on some villages by bandits and terrorists, and the attacks are religiously insensitive.
“Christians, Muslims, churches, and mosques are attacked randomly.”
The presidential aide stressed that Nigeria does not need to be placed on a watchlist but rather requires strategic military support to combat violent extremists operating in certain parts of the country.
“What our country requires from America is military support to fight these violent extremists in some states of our country, not designation as a nation of particular concern,” Onanuga stated.
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