U.S. Congress Doubles Down On Claims Of Targeted Killings In Nigeria

…Closed-door Briefing Rejects FG Team’s Narrative That Attacks Not Motivated By Religion

By Yinka Giwa
U.S. lawmakers have delivered their most forceful challenge yet to Nigeria’s official position on the country’s spiraling violence, declaring in a rare closed-door joint congressional briefing that the killings are “escalating,” “coordinated,” and overwhelmingly targeted at Christians. The session, convened by House Appropriations Vice Chair Mario Díaz-Balart as part of a Trump-ordered inquiry, squarely contradicts Abuja’s repeated insistence that the massacres are not religiously motivated.

The classified briefing examined recent attacks and what the U.S. Congress described as the Nigerian government’s “deeply inadequate” response. President Trump has tasked lawmakers, led by Reps. Riley Moore and Tom Cole, with compiling a comprehensive report on the persecution of Christians in Nigeria, and has openly floated the possibility of U.S. military action against Islamist groups implicated in the killings.

Vicky Hartzler, chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, warned that “religious freedom [is] under siege” in Nigeria, citing mass abductions of schoolchildren and assaults in which “radical Muslims kill entire Christian villages [and] burn churches.” She said the abuses are “rampant” and “violent,” claiming Christians are targeted “at a 2.2 to 1 rate” compared with Muslims. Although she acknowledged Abuja’s recent redeployment of police officers from VIP protection duties, Hartzler warned that Nigeria is entering a “coordinated and deeply troubling period of escalated violence.” She urged Washington to impose targeted sanctions, visa bans, asset freezes, and tighter conditions on U.S. aid, insisting Abuja must retake villages seized from Christian communities so displaced widows and children can return home.

The sharpest condemnation came from Dr. Ebenezer Obadare of the Council on Foreign Relations, who dismissed the Nigerian government’s narrative as “a myth.” The claim that extremists attack Muslims and Christians equally, he argued, ignores the fact that the groups operate “for one reason and one reason only: religion.” He said higher Muslim casualty figures reflect geography: proximity to active conflict zones, not equal targeting. Describing Boko Haram as fundamentally anti-democratic, Obadare accused Nigeria’s military of being “too corrupt and incompetent” to defeat jihadist networks without external pressure. He urged Washington to push Abuja to dismantle armed religious militias, confront security-sector corruption, and respond more decisively to early-warning indicators.

Sean Nelson of ADF International labelled Nigeria “the deadliest country in the world for Christians,” claiming more Christians are killed there than in all other countries combined, and at a rate “five times” higher than Muslims when adjusted for population. While acknowledging that extremists also kill Muslims who reject violent ideologies, Nelson said this fact does nothing to support Abuja’s claim that the crisis is driven mainly by crime or communal tensions. He pressed Congress to impose stricter oversight on U.S. aid to Nigeria and suggested routing some assistance through faith-based organisations to mitigate corruption. Without “transparency and outside pressure,” he warned, “nothing changes.”

Díaz-Balart himself criticised the Biden administration’s 2021 decision to remove Nigeria from the list of “countries of particular concern,” calling the reversal “clearly deadly.” Lawmakers across the Appropriations, Foreign Affairs, and Financial Services committees signalled readiness to escalate oversight as they prepare the Trump-directed report.

Hartzler also referenced recent remarks by Nigeria’s Speaker of the House acknowledging a “coordinated and deeply troubling period of escalated violence,” calling the admission a rare moment of candour. But she stressed that symbolic steps, such as the police redeployments, fall far short of what is required. Abuja, she said, must show a genuine commitment to “quell injustice,” act swiftly on early warnings, and embrace full transparency if it expects international confidence to be restored.