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By Lizzy Chirkpi
Senior Adviser to former United States President Donald Trump on Arab and African Affairs, Massad Boulos, has said that terrorist groups such as Boko Haram and ISIS have killed more Muslims than Christians in Nigeria, dismissing claims of religious persecution as inaccurate and misleading.
Boulos made the remarks in a video shared by a Nigerian Television on X ( formerly Twitter) on Friday, responding to comments by some U.S. lawmakers alleging that Christians were being systematically targeted in Nigeria.
“Any incident, any loss of life is absolutely unfortunate. Those who know the terrain well know that terrorism has no colour, no religion and no tribe,” Boulos said.
“People of all religions and all tribes are dying as a result of terrorist acts. We even know that Boko Haram and ISIS are killing more Muslims than Christians. So people are suffering from all sorts of backgrounds. This is not specifically targeted about one group or the other.”
He stressed that the violence ravaging parts of the country was not religiously motivated but rather a symptom of broader insecurity affecting all Nigerians.
Speaking on farmer–herder clashes in the Middle Belt, Boulos said the confrontations were often misrepresented as religious conflicts.
“There are other incidents that happen to be in the Middle Belt, for example, where farmers are located. Most of these farmers happen to be Christian, and some herdsmen are going through, and they have these incidents. But it’s not something that we can say is specifically targeted about this specific group,” he explained.
Boulos commended the Tinubu administration for ramping up efforts to stabilize volatile regions, saying progress was already noticeable.
“The Nigerian government and President Tinubu’s administration have recently taken additional measures and put more resources in those areas. We’ve seen some improvements in recent weeks. We appreciate those measures and definitely look forward to more,” he said.
He also lauded Nigeria’s long-standing tradition of religious coexistence, describing its diversity as a strength rather than a weakness.
“Nigeria is a country in which all sorts of religious groups and other groups, ethnic and tribal, are living together in harmony for centuries. The population is split 50-50 between Christians and Muslims, so this has never been a serious religious issue and should not be,” Boulos said.
He called for stronger collaboration between Nigeria and the United States in combating terrorism and promoting peace.
Boulos’s comments come amid fresh debates in Washington, where some U.S. politicians are pushing for Nigeria to be reclassified as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) over alleged violations of religious freedom.
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz recently accused Nigerian officials of “ignoring and even facilitating the mass murder of Christians by Islamist jihadists,” introducing the Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act to sanction those deemed responsible.
Similarly, Congressman Riley Moore of West Virginia urged U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to redesignate Nigeria as a CPC and suspend arms sales until the Nigerian government demonstrates stronger protection for Christian communities.
Nigeria was first designated a CPC in 2020 under the Trump administration but was removed from the list by President Joe Biden in 2021, a decision that drew backlash from conservative and religious freedom advocates.