…Rights Group Accuses US Newspaper of Trying to Discredit Reports of Targeted Killings
By Franklin Adole
The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has accused the New York Times of publishing a “warped and misleading” report on killings of Christians in Nigeria, describing it as a fallout of an alleged $9 million image-laundering and lobbying contract entered into by the Federal Government.
In a statement issued on Monday, HURIWA said the widely circulated report attributed to the New York Times, which allegedly portrayed a civil rights activist in Onitsha as an unreliable source on the genocide of Christians, amounted to “uneducated and unintelligent propaganda” designed to discredit credible documentation of attacks by Islamic terrorists in Nigeria.
The group claimed the report was targeted at damaging the reputation of Mr. Emeka Umeagbalasi, Executive Director of the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), one of Nigeria’s prominent human rights organisations. HURIWA said attempts to portray Umeagbalasi as merely a “screwdriver trader” were part of a broader strategy to trivialise and dismiss evidence of persistent killings and abductions of Christians across the country.
According to HURIWA, the report is a direct consequence of a $9 million lobbying payment allegedly linked to the Nigerian government, which it said was intended to launder the country’s image abroad and counter growing international concern over religiously motivated violence.
The group recalled that it had earlier criticised the Federal Government for allegedly spending $9 million to lobby U.S. institutions on the protection of Christians, despite officially denying that Christians were being targeted for genocide in Nigeria.
HURIWA cited media reports indicating that the lobbying contract, filed with the United States Department of Justice, showed that Aster Legal, a Kaduna-based law firm, hired the services of DCI Group on behalf of the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu. The agreement, reportedly signed on December 17, 2025, mandates the U.S. firm to assist in communicating Nigeria’s actions to protect Christian communities and sustain U.S. support in countering jihadist groups in West Africa.
In a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko, HURIWA dismissed claims attributed to the New York Times suggesting that U.S. policy decisions, including air strikes, were based on information from a single activist. The group described such claims as false and illogical.
HURIWA stressed that reports of killings, church attacks, abductions and assassinations of Christian clerics had been consistently documented by Nigerian newspapers and international observers, citing incidents such as the killing of worshippers at St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Osun State, for which suspects are currently being prosecuted.
The organisation also noted that several Christian leaders, including the Catholic Bishop of Makurdi Diocese, Most Rev. Wilfred Chikpa Anagbe, had testified before U.S. congressional panels, while American lawmakers had visited affected communities in Nigeria and interviewed survivors of attacks.
Describing the New York Times report as “commercial propaganda,” HURIWA said efforts to deny or downplay the killings of Christians had failed, insisting that the violence was notorious and globally reported.
“The fact that Emeka Umeagbalasi is quoted by the media does not make him the sole source of reports on the genocide of Christians in Nigeria,” HURIWA said, adding that attempts to rubbish documented atrocities only exposed the weakness of the alleged propaganda campaign.
The group concluded that the $9 million lobbying effort was a “bad investment,” warning that truth about the killings of Christians in Nigeria could not be erased through paid media narratives.