The Director General of the National Orientation Agency, Lanre Issa- Onilu, has dismissed claims of a Christian genocide in Nigeria, stating that he was certain the United States had committed “ another error in their intelligence gathering. ”
The DG made the statement in response to Nigeria’s redesignation as a “ Country of Particular Concern ” by the United States government, a move that came after US President Donald Trump intimately indicted Nigerian authorities of turning a eyeless eye to the payoff of Christians.
In a post on his verity Social platform over the weekend, Trump contended that the Nigerian government had failed to cover Christians from persecution, declaring that the United States would “ stop all aid and backing to Nigeria ” and might enter the country “ ordnancea-blazing ” if the killings continued.
still, Issa- Onilu, speaking during the yearly common security press briefing held at the NOA headquarters in Abuja on Monday, said the allegations were false and illegal to Nigeria, arguing that indeed the US was apprehensive that there was no methodical persecution of Christians in the country.
“ Let me speak specifically to some of the import of the tweet. One is to say that the Christian genocide in Nigeria, I’m sure indeed America knows that is n’t true. This is n’t the first time that the intelligence of the United States has failed America.
“ It failed them in Iraq. It turned out that there were no munitions of mass destruction, and they apologised. It failed them in Libya and numerous other cases. So I’m sure this is another error in their intelligence gathering, ” Issa- Onilu added.
The NOA master further stated that the recent shake- up among Nigeria’s security chiefs demonstrated that the country was working seriously to strengthen its internal security and address collaborative and religious violence.
“ A country that is n’t working seriously on the issue of security wo n’t take similar drastic way as the President just took last week, changing the top situations of the service to insure that the system is rejigged and empowered to do more, ” he said.
Issa- Onilu bared that the National Security Adviser and the recently appointed service chiefs were anticipated to brief the media latterly on Monday autumn from the Office of the National Security Adviser, where they would “ give an acceptable response to the allegations of genocide. ”
The United States first designated Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern in 2020, under the International Religious Freedom Act, citing what it described as the government’s failure to cover religious freedom and help attacks against nonage groups.
The designation was latterly lifted in 2021 under President Joe Biden, following politic engagements between both countries.
still, the rearmost redesignation has reignited debate over Nigeria’s mortal rights record and the delicacy of US intelligence assessments regarding religious violence in Africa’s most vibrant nation.
The Federal Government has constantly maintained that it’s committed to guarding all citizens anyhow of faith, citing recent counterterrorism operations and community peace- structure enterprise as substantiation of its sweats.
