02/11/2025
Alleged genocide against Nigerian christians and Trump's double standards
By Mohammed Ismail
The hasty statement made by US president Donald Trump declaring Nigeria as a country of concern in the ongoing conversation around the thorny and sensitive allegation of genocide against Nigerian Christians is seriously disturbing because it exposes a predisposed mindset against objectivity and truth.
It beggars belief that the president of the most sophisticated country on earth with a vast intelligence network could sink so low as to buy the hubris of genocide against Christians in Nigeria even though circumstantial and empirical evidences are clearly in conflict with such postulations.
But in the eccentric war of ego being fought, truth and objectivity are usually the first casualties. Such makes Trump to descend from his olympian position to become a willing tool in the business of spreading mischief, half-truths and outright lies and weaponize them to achieve his devious agenda of giving a dog, a bad name in order to crucify it.
In the global 'dog-eat-dog' politics being played today, propaganda has become a potent tool for demonizing societies and institutions marked for destruction, in line with the so-called world order fashioned and scripted by the new imperialists, who seek to dominate global narratives and enforce their moral posturing with military and economic might.
If truth and moral precepts are the veneers with which the world is controlled, the United States has long lost every moral right to fight for the rights of Christians anywhere in the world.
A country that either sits idly by or actively endorses the pogrom meted to Gaza’s civilian population including thousands of Christians, has forfeited its standing to lecture others on human rights, more so Christian rights.
Since the beginning of the latest genocide against Palestinians by the Zionist State of Israel, the United States has not only turned a blind eye but has actively supplied the means of destruction. From bunker-busting bombs to precision-guided missiles, America’s arsenal has been the lifeline that fuels Israel’s relentless assault.
It is an open secret that without Washington’s military and diplomatic backing, Israel would have been compelled long ago to answer for its war crimes before the International Criminal Court.
Yet, instead of condemnation, what came from the United States was justification. To the chagrin of the world, President Trump has repeated the hollow mantra that “Israel has a right to defend itself,” even when the evidence clearly shows that Israel has transformed from the “defender” into the “perpetrator” of Geno and war crimes against humanity.
In the latest infamous pogrom, hospitals, churches, refugee camps, and schools in Gaza have been reduced to rubble, and yet the so-called conscience of the world remains mute.
Unfortunately, it is this same United States, the self-styled champion of global human rights, that now turns around to accuse Nigeria of genocide against Christians, a baseless allegation that neither the United Nations, the African Union, nor credible international watchdogs have validated. How does a nation that bankrolls one of the most devastating military campaigns against a trapped civilian population suddenly discover its moral compass when looking at Africa?
To understand the hypocrisy, one must look at America’s historical relationship with Israel. Since 1948, the U.S. has provided Israel with over $150 billion in aid, the bulk of it military. The Iron Dome missile defense system, the F-35 fighter jets, the precision weapons, all are funded or co-developed by Washington. When Israel faces international scrutiny, the U.S. deploys its veto power at the United Nations to shield it from accountability. The result is impunity on a scale unprecedented in modern history.
During the renewed bombardment of Gaza between 2023–2025, reports from UNICEF, Amnesty International, and Médecins Sans Frontières documented the indiscriminate killing of women and children, the flattening of hospitals, and the starvation of entire communities.
Over 40,000 people, including Christians, perished under the weight of Israeli bombs. These bombs were produced, supplied and commissioned by the US, yet, Washington’s reaction was to increase military assistance to Tel Aviv by another $14 billion.
The United States’ actions go beyond weapons. It provides diplomatic cover, media influence, and narrative control. American networks sanitize Israeli atrocities while amplifying unverified claims against its enemies. When Palestinian journalists expose civilian suffering, they are labeled as “propagandists.” When Nigerian officials deny claims of Christian genocide, they are accused of “covering up.” The double standard is glaring.
This hypocrisy is not new. The U.S. has a long history of selective morality. It supported apartheid South Africa under the guise of anti-communism, invaded Iraq on false pretenses, and armed Saudi Arabia while it waged a brutal war in Yemen.
When Trump and his right-wing Christian base cry foul over alleged persecution of Christians in Nigeria, one can clearly see that the whole charade was driven by political expediency that is why they were quick to give a lopsided verdict. Their narrative feeds into a neo-colonial script that paints Africa as a land of perpetual barbarism and religious intolerance, ripe for intervention. It is a convenient distraction from their own complicity in real, documented atrocities elsewhere. But like I said it is a case of giving dog a bad name in order to hang it.
The so-called genocide in Nigeria is largely a myth built on misinformation. While attacks and farmer-herder conflicts have occurred often driven by competition for land, water and other scarce resources exacerbated by climate change, the broad claim of systematic extermination of Christians does not stand up to serious scrutiny.
Independent studies by Nigerian and international researchers show that both Muslims and Christians have suffered casualties in the same measure, depending on the region. So to turn around and frame the insecurity afflicting all regions of Nigeria as “Christian genocide” is a deliberate distortion, one that serves political narratives in Washington and religious lobbies seeking influence.
The United States’ moral pretensions collapse under the weight of its record. How can a country that supplies the bombs used to destroy ancient Christian churches in Gaza and Bethlehem now claim to be the defender of Christians in Nigeria? How can Washington speak of genocide in Africa while funding it in the Middle East?
If America truly believes in universal human rights, then it must begin by holding its own allies accountable. It must stop shielding Israel from international law and stop weaponizing religion for geopolitical ends. Until then, its sermons about freedom, justice, and faith ring hollow.
Nigeria, for all its internal challenges, remains one of the most religiously diverse and tolerant nations in Africa. Christians and Muslims have coexisted for centuries, bound by shared history and interwoven cultures. While there are extremists on both sides, they do not represent the heart of the nation. Surprisingly, even in the face of this glaring evidence America prefers to paint a grim picture of chaos because that gives it the leverage and justification to further its devilish and wicked plans against Nigeria.
Trump’s declaration, therefore, is not a gesture of concern but a manifestation of arrogance, the arrogance of a man who believes he alone defines truth, morality, and justice. It is the same arrogance that fuels wars, topples governments, and manufactures consent through propaganda.
The world must see through this duplicity. A nation that bankrolls one genocide cannot credibly accuse another of committing one. Until the United States purges itself of this double-faced diplomacy, its claims to global leadership will remain nothing but a masquerade hiding cruelty behind the mask of conscience.
Mohammed Ismail is the Editor-in-chief of Fombina Times .
