ICYMI: Following U.S. Threat of Sanctions Over Christian Killings, Tinubu Invites Catholic Bishops, Speaks on Insecurity

President Bola Tinubu on Friday met with the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) in Abuja, where he dismissed concerns about religious bias and insisted that his administration is tackling insecurity.

The meeting came just days after the United States House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa approved potential sanctions against Nigeria, citing a damning report that Nigerians accounted for 90 per cent of all Christians killed worldwide in recent years.

The report by the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa documented that between October 2019 and September 2023, a staggering 55,910 people were killed, while 21,000 others were abducted by terrorist groups operating in the region.

The U.S. lawmakers accused the Nigerian government of failing to protect religious minorities and ignoring targeted violence against Christians.

Militant Fulani herdsmen are terrorists. They steal and vandalise, they kill and boast about it, they kidnap and rape, and they enjoy total impunity from elected officials. None of them have been arrested or brought to justice.

Make no mistake, these attacks are religiously motivated. Denying this reality contradicts the overwhelming evidence we have seen with our own eyes. This ‘religious cleansing’ must stop, and those responsible must be held accountable, the subcommittee’s report stated.

The U.S. subcommittee also criticised Nigeria’s judicial system, stating that it had been weaponised to suppress Christian communities.

However, speaking to the catholic bishops, Tinubu downplayed religious concerns, arguing that insecurity affects all Nigerians regardless of faith.

He said:

This insecurity, everyone is affected, Christians, Muslims alike. I have no religious bias; I won’t be a bigot. My wife is a pastor of Redeemed Christian Church. But we have to think of our country; this country must develop and must stand beyond religious bigotry. And I’m here open to you, ready to listen.

We’ve been together for some time. We have an open-door policy. I will not shut my door, he added.

Daniel Bwala, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Policy also claimed that since President Tinubu’s inauguration, there have been minimal or no cases of Christian persecution in the country.

Meanwhile reports by the Catholic World Report indicate that Christians in Nigeria remain at high risk, facing targeted attacks from various militant groups.

According to the 2025 World Watch List published by UK-based NGO, Open Doors, an annual ranking of the 50 countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution, Nigeria again accounted for the country with the highest number of Christians killed for their faith in 2024, of which out of the 4,476 Christians murdered last year, 3,100 of them were in Nigeria.

In December 2023, around 140 Nigerian Christians were massacred near Jos. Fulani jihadist militias also targeted Christian farming communities across Plateau State, resulting in a death toll of 200.

Between July and November 2024, bandits killed 13 individuals in Southern Kaduna. Within the same July to November 2024 period, over 200 people were kidnapped by bandits.

Notably, before the U.S. threat of potential sanctions over Christian killings, Nigerian government had made little to no effort to commiserate with the victims’ families, issue strong condemnations, engage with the Church or the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in solidarity, or implement any concrete measures to address the escalating violence.

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