No genocide against Christians, Omokri tells popular US tv talk show host, Maher
Former presidential aide, Mr Reno Omokri, has refuted a claim made by a popular United States (U.S.) political talk show host, Mr Bill Maher, that Christians are being targeted and killed in Nigeria.
Based on a viral video in which a man with a Nigerian accent claimed that over 500,000 Christians were killed in the country last year, Maher, a comedian who hosts the longest-running talk show in the US, Real Time with Bill Maher, asserted that a systematic genocide was happening in Nigeria.
The offensive video was circulated by international X influencers, including Radio Genoa, an anti-Islamic personality, who stokes negative sentiments against the Muslim faith.
However, Omokri, in a statement yesterday, rebutted Maher’s claim, asserting there was no basis for the assertion. He said that the claim contradicted the widely accepted figures on terrorism and violent crime deaths worldwide.
He countered, “Mr Maher ought to know that there is an apolitical global body with the mandate to report on deaths from insecurity and terrorism worldwide, and that is the Institute for Economics and Peace, which annually publishes the Global Terrorism Index, which calculates how many people were killed from terror, insecurity, war, and conflicts in the world.
“According to the Institute’s 2024 Global Terrorism Index, a total of 8,352 people died from terror and insecurity last year. Even when you add this to the 36,000 civilians the United Nations says were killed by armed conflicts globally in the same year, you will agree with me that it is preposterous to allege that half a million Christians were killed in Nigeria last year, or Mr Maher’s more conservative figure of 100,000.”
Accusing comedian Maher, who is neither a Christian nor has visited Nigeria, of mischief and falsehood peddling, Omokri stated that the situation in Nigeria has been exaggerated.
“To be sure, we do face a challenge with insecurity in Nigeria, caused by banditry and farmer/herder clashes in the Northwest and Middle Belt, and an Islamic insurgency in the Northeast, which has largely subsided and is in its final stages,” he said.
Omokri explained that President Bola Tinubu’s administration had directly addressed the issue of insecurity in the country, noting that those responsible for terrorism and banditry are being arrested, prosecuted, and neutralised.
He recalled that Kabiru Sokoto, the mastermind behind the St. Theresa Catholic Church Christmas Day bombing on 25 December 2011 in Madalla, Niger State, which killed 37 Christians, had been convicted.
He also recalled that those responsible for the attack on St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, on 5 June 2022, have also been apprehended and are now facing prosecution.
Omokri emphasised that over 16 notorious bandits who caused trouble for Nigerians in the Northwest and North-east, including Kachalla Ali Kawaje, Kachalla Halilu Sububu, Kachalla Damina, Kachalla Dangote, Kachalla Jafaru, Kachalla Barume, Kachalla Shehu, and Tsoho, have been neutralised.
Additionally, the former presidential aide observed that victims of terrorism and banditry included both Christians and Muslims, explaining that more of the latter had been killed as violence subsided.
He stated, “According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, ACLED, in the last decade, Nigeria has experienced the highest number of deaths from insecurity in the Northwest of the country, which is the heartland of Islam in Nigeria and the seat of the Sokoto Caliphate, the headquarters for Islamic leadership in the country.
“According to the ACLED, between 2010 and 2023, 13,485 people have died in these attacks, with the vast majority being Muslims. Bad enough. But nowhere near 500,000, or 100,000.”
Omokri explained that the initial intention of the terrorists was to spark a religious war, which was frustrated by the maturity of Christian leaders, including Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, who dissuaded Christians from retaliating against the violence on their brothers.
“The point of this treatise is simply to dispel the propaganda spread by either ignorant or mischievous persons about a genocide or regicide in Nigeria. Such a thing is the figment of the imagination of those making such wild and dangerous claims,” the former aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan said.
