A former Director of the British Council, Abuja, David Roberts, on Monday posited that insinuations of genocide against Christians in Nigeria, were untrue.

“I lived in Nigeria as a British diplomat and toured the length and breadth of the country. It is ridiculous for anyone even to suggest that half a million people were killed as part of a genocide against Christians in Nigeria by Muslims last year alone.

“Yes, there are security challenges in Nigeria, but those challenges have plagued the country from the pre-colonial to the colonial and now the post-colonial eras,” he stated.

According to him, more Muslims are killed by the terrorists, explaining that recently, insecurity in Nigeria has been exacerbated by the crisis in the Sahel, with the fall of democratic governments in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

“And this is not some Christian genocide. As a matter of fact, more Muslims are killed in the face of these attacks in Nigeria than Christians—a fact noted by the Institute for Economics and Peace in their annual Global Terrorism Index.

“In recent times, insecurity in Nigeria has been exacerbated by the crisis in the Sahel, with the fall of democratic governments in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger,” he added.

As these countries typically share a border with the North-west and North-east of Nigeria, which are the Islamic heartlands, it means that Muslims have borne the brunt of the situation more than Christians, Roberts said.

However, he emphasised that this is not to say Christians are not affected.

“I call on Western nations and their media to be mindful of the reportage in order not to ignore a crisis that will result in a greater flood of refugees from West Africa turning up in Europe through the Mediterranean,” he said.

Follow us on: