ABUJA, Nigeria (BN24) Nigerian political commentator and author Reno Omokri has rejected claims by United States Senator Ted Cruz that Christians are facing genocide in Nigeria, describing the assertions as “ludicrous,” misleading, and rooted in ignorance of the country’s complex security crisis.
Speaking on ARISE News on Monday night, October 13, Omokri sharply criticized Cruz’s sponsorship of the Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act of 2025. This bill alleges widespread Christian persecution by Islamist groups with tacit approval from the Nigerian government. Cruz’s proposed legislation seeks to have Nigeria designated by the U.S. State Department as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) and impose targeted sanctions on Nigerian officials.
“Senator Ted Cruz began this tale about a Christian genocide, and Governor Greg Abbott followed along with Congressman Chip Roy,” Omokri said. “It is my patriotic duty to correct this dangerous misinformation that has the potential to destabilize Nigeria and damage our international standing.”
Cruz, a Republican senator from Texas, has accused the Nigerian government of failing to protect Christians from violent attacks and of enabling Islamic extremism through blasphemy laws, imposition of Sharia, and tacit support for jihadist groups.
But Omokri, a former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan and a prominent political voice in diaspora advocacy, said the reality in Nigeria defies Cruz’s simplified narrative. While acknowledging that Christians have been victims of violence, Omokri emphasized that Muslims have also suffered equally from attacks by armed groups such as Boko Haram, ISWAP, and bandit militias.
“Yes, there are killings of Christians in Nigeria, and anyone who denies that would be dishonest,” Omokri stated. “But there are also killings of Muslims. When terrorists attack Benue State, which is predominantly Christian, most of the victims are Christians. But when they strike in Zamfara or Sokoto, which are Muslim-majority regions, Muslims bear the brunt. There is no Christian genocide in Nigeria.”
To counter what he calls a politically motivated distortion of facts by U.S. lawmakers, Omokri said he organized a fact-finding delegation from the United States comprising Mike Arnold, the Republican mayor of Blanco, Texas, and Jeff Gibbs, an American filmmaker. The delegation, he explained, visited several regions of Nigeria, including internally displaced persons (IDP) camps, and met with leaders of both the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), the country’s major Islamic umbrella body.
“They’ve now seen things for themselves and spoken with both Christian and Muslim leaders,” Omokri said. “Their mission is to help inform Republican lawmakers who genuinely care about religious freedom but may be operating with misinformation or limited context.”
He added that the delegates had been briefed before their trip by both Senator Cruz and Congressman Chip Roy and would submit an independent report based on firsthand interactions and local assessments.
Omokri further traced the roots of Nigeria’s current security crisis to the 2011 NATO-led intervention in Libya, during the Obama administration. He argued that the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi unleashed armed mercenaries and weapons across the Sahel region, destabilizing fragile states and emboldening jihadist movements.
“This crisis did not begin in Nigeria. It began when the Obama administration intervened in Libya,” Omokri said. “After Gaddafi fell, his battle-hardened fighters and stockpiles of weapons flowed into Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, and eventually Nigeria. The destabilization of the Sahel is the consequence of that decision, and the United States bears a moral responsibility for what followed.”
Omokri warned that branding Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern,” a designation typically reserved for nations with systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, would only embolden terrorist groups and cause further harm to ordinary Nigerians.
“If Nigeria is designated as a CPC, it will embolden terrorists and punish everyday Nigerians, both Christian and Muslim, who are already suffering,” he said. “It will not serve the cause of religious freedom, but instead, deepen divisions and make cooperation with the United States more difficult.”
Nigeria has long battled a variety of security threats, including Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast, farmer-herder conflicts in the Middle Belt, banditry in the northwest, and separatist unrest in the southeast. Religious identities are often entangled with ethnic, regional, and political affiliations, making simplistic attributions of violence to religious persecution misleading, experts say.
So far, the Nigerian government has not issued an official response to Senator Cruz’s claims or the bill currently before the U.S. Senate.
Omokri, however, urged restraint from American policymakers, calling for deeper engagement rather than punitive measures based on partial or politicized accounts.
“Nigeria is not perfect, but we are trying. What we need is support, not stigma,” he said. “I urge Senator Cruz and others to consider the facts, not fear-driven narratives.”
