Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
The Director General of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Digital Force, Pharm. Ikeagwuonwu Klinsmann, has strongly criticized the Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) for denying the reality of genocidal attacks against Christians in Nigeria.
In a statement on Wednesday, Klinsmann described JNI’s denial as “a dishonest attempt to downplay” the targeted violence against Christians, calling it “a cowardly betrayal of truth and justice.”
He urged the Islamic body “to retract their denials, condemn these extremists unequivocally, and join in demanding justice,” stressing that “Nigerians of all faiths deserve peace, but truth must precede it.”
Klinsmann argued that any attempt to deny what he termed the “systematic extermination of Christians across Nigeria” amounted to “a sin against the blood of innocent victims.”
“Any dishonest attempt to downplay these atrocities as ‘mere criminality’ or ‘poverty-driven clashes’ is the height of hypocrisy,” he said.
The APC chieftain expressed disappointment at JNI’s claim that violence affects all faiths equally and stems from non-religious factors.
“This is a blatant lie that shields jihadists and insults the graves of thousands of innocent Christians,” he stated.
Klinsmann backed former U.S. President Donald Trump’s position that Christians in Nigeria are facing an existential threat, accusing Islamic fundamentalists of orchestrating the atrocities.
He urged the Federal Government to take decisive action against the masterminds, dismissing attempts to rebrand the killings as mere banditry.
“This is not random banditry; it is a deliberate campaign of religious cleansing by groups like Boko Haram, ISWAP, and Fulani militias, who target churches, priests, and Christian communities with impunity.
“JNI’s refusal to acknowledge this—claiming the U.S. genocide classification is ‘exaggerated’—exposes their complicity through silence, allowing the blood of our brothers and sisters to cry out unanswered.
“They must stop hiding behind excuses of climate change or economic hardship when the evidence screams of faith-based hatred,” the statement read.
Highlighting what he called “irrefutable evidence” of targeted extermination, Klinsmann cited data from Genocide Watch, which documented that since 2000, no fewer than 62,000 Nigerian Christians have been killed by Islamist jihadists, including Boko Haram and its ISWAP splinter group.
He said the data also indicated that over 18,000 churches were razed during the same period.
According to him, “moderate Muslims have also suffered, with 34,000 killed in the same onslaught—underscoring the jihadists’ broader war on non-conformists—but Christians remain the primary targets in a pattern that meets the UN Genocide Convention’s criteria for the intentional destruction of a group.”
Klinsmann decried the persecution of Christian clerics, noting that Catholic priests and seminarians “are being systematically hunted.”
He cited several victims, including Rev. Fr. Christopher Odia, abducted from his rectory in Edo State on June 26, 2022, and executed by his captors; Rev. Fr. Joseph Aketeh Bako, who died in captivity after a terrorist attack on his parish in March; and Rev. Fr. Vitus Borogo, slain in his Kaduna rectory on June 25, 2022.
He also recalled the horrific killing of seminarian Na’aman Danlami, who was burned alive on September 7, 2023, during a Fulani militia raid on St. Raphael Parish in Kaduna.
“These are not isolated incidents. They are genocidal attacks. Over 50 Catholic priests have been killed or kidnapped since 2009 alone—a 300% surge in attacks on clergy, driven by Islamist extremists who view Christian leaders as symbols to eradicate,” he added.
Klinsmann further referenced blasphemy-related mob killings, recalling the 1996 beheading of Gideon Akaluka, an Igbo Christian trader in Kano, who was paraded and decapitated by a mob for allegedly desecrating the Quran—an incident JNI, he said, failed to condemn unequivocally.
He also cited the 2022 lynching of Deborah Samuel Yakubu, a 22-year-old Christian student in Sokoto, who was stoned and burned alive by her peers for alleged blasphemy.
“In February 2018, ISWAP terrorists kidnapped 110 schoolgirls from Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State. While 104 were released after forced conversions to Islam, five died in captivity, and Christian Leah Sharibu, then 14, remains held to this day—now 21—for refusing to renounce her faith. Leah’s story is the face of this genocide,” he said.
Klinsmann accused JNI of “dishonesty” for prioritizing the defense of extremists over justice for victims, noting that the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) recorded over 53,000 civilian deaths since 2009, mostly Christians in the Middle Belt, where Fulani militias have displaced 2.5 million people and destroyed 2,000 villages since 2015.
“In Benue State alone, a predominantly Christian region, 2025 has witnessed a horrifying escalation—with over 500 Christians slaughtered in coordinated jihadist attacks,” he said.
He listed major massacres including over 200 killed in Yelwata village, Guma County, on June 13; at least 85 slain in Gwer West and Apa counties in early June; and 15 killed in Sarkin Noma on November 1.
“These barbaric raiders, have displaced over 6,000 more, burned food stores, trapped mothers and children, and caused cholera outbreaks among survivors—all to seize fertile farmlands,” he said.
Klinsmann noted that U.S. Congressional resolutions and Vatican reports have both confirmed these as “genocidal massacres,” with priest abductions tripling since 2021.
“The Nigerian government must act decisively, or this silent slaughter will consume us all,” he warned.
