Nigerian Senate to debate motion addressing claims of systemic genocide against Christians and calls for data-driven communication on insecurity.
The Nigerian Senate is set to deliberate on a sensitive national issue concerning allegations of a “systemic genocide” targeting Christians across the country. The debate, scheduled for Tuesday’s plenary session, will be anchored on a motion presented by Senator Ali Ndume, representing Borno South. The motion is co-sponsored by Senators Sani Musa, Aliyu Wamakko, and Ibrahim Bomai.
The motion, titled “Urgent Need to Correct Misconceptions Regarding the Purported ‘Christian Genocide’ Narrative in Nigeria and International Communities,” calls for a comprehensive and data-based response from the federal government. The lawmakers stressed the importance of factual, transparent communication in addressing what they described as misleading narratives circulating both locally and internationally.
Senator Ndume and his co-sponsors argued that the portrayal of Nigeria’s security crisis as a campaign of Christian genocide is inaccurate and damaging to the country’s global reputation. They maintained that insecurity in Nigeria affects citizens across religious and ethnic lines, not just a single group.
To tackle the issue effectively, the motion urges the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and relevant security agencies to adopt a data-driven communication strategy. This approach would involve releasing verified casualty figures, detailed contextual analyses, and outcomes of investigations related to victims of insecurity. The senators believe that doing so will help counter misinformation and promote a more accurate understanding of Nigeria’s complex security landscape.
The sponsors emphasized that this initiative is crucial to restoring international confidence and ensuring that Nigeria’s internal conflicts are not misinterpreted as targeted attacks against any religious community.