By George Mgbeleke <\/p>\n
The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has faulted the Federal Government\u2019s denial of ongoing genocide against Christians and indigenous Hausas in the North, describing the statement by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, as a reckless attempt to whitewash a grim reality that has persisted for decades.<\/p>\n
Reacting to the Minister\u2019s dismissal of allegations by U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, who accused the Nigerian government of turning a blind eye to genocide and persecution of Christians, HURIWA said the Nigerian authorities have chosen denial over accountability in the face of overwhelming evidence of killings, abductions, and systemic discrimination against Christians across many parts of the country.<\/p>\n
In a statement by the National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, HURIWA said it was shocking that the Federal Government could boldly tell the world that there is no genocide in Nigeria when the blood of thousands of innocent Christians and indigenous Hausas continues to stain the soil of Northern Nigeria. The association said that from Benue to Plateau, from Southern Kaduna to Niger, Sokoto, Katsina, and Zamfara, there is consistent and targeted violence against Christians, the destruction of churches, and state-backed discrimination that together amount to genocidal practices.<\/p>\n
HURIWA maintained that the government\u2019s denial only proves how disconnected it has become from reality and how the religious imbalance in the top leadership of the country has worsened public distrust. The association said this was one of the tragic consequences of the national error committed in 2023, when Nigerians elected both a Muslim President and a Muslim Vice President in a secular nation. According to HURIWA, the arrangement is abnormal, absurd, and unconstitutional in a country where the Constitution clearly recognizes no state religion. It argued that such imbalance has emboldened extremists and alienated the Christian population in the North, who now feel abandoned and unprotected.<\/p>\n
The association expressed disappointment in the Minister of Information, noting that his response to Senator Ted Cruz\u2019s comments showed poor understanding of the magnitude of religious persecution in Nigeria. HURIWA advised the Minister to acquaint himself with credible data from both local and international sources before dismissing verified reports as false. The group said available records show that between 2015 and 2025, no fewer than 150 Catholic priests have been kidnapped in Nigeria, out of which at least 11 were killed. In 2022 alone, about 39 Catholic priests were killed and 30 abducted across the country, particularly in the North-Central and North-West regions. In contrast, there is no corresponding number of imams who have been kidnapped or killed within the same period, clearly indicating that the violence is disproportionately targeted at Christians.<\/p>\n
Citing statistics from Intersociety, HURIWA said more than 7,000 Christians were massacred by jihadists and allied terror groups in just the first seven months of 2025, while over 17,500 churches and 2,000 Christian schools have been attacked or destroyed between 2009 and 2021. The rights group added that the destruction of churches is ongoing, with at least 100 churches attacked in 2023 alone. HURIWA noted that even where killings are not taking place, Christians continue to suffer administrative genocide in the form of denial of fundamental rights such as the right to build places of worship, access to land, and equal participation in governance. It cited the reported refusal of state governments in parts of the Northwest, including Katsina, Sokoto, and Kano, to grant Certificates of Occupancy to Christian groups wishing to build churches, describing such institutionalized discrimination as a form of genocide.<\/p>\n
The group said it is regrettable that these atrocities have persisted for decades and were not created by the current administration, but have been sustained by successive governments through silence, complicity, and failure to uphold the constitutional principle of secularism. HURIWA stressed that genocide is not only defined by physical killings but also by deliberate acts that deny people their right to existence, dignity, and freedom of worship. It said what is happening to Christians and indigenous Hausas in Northern Nigeria fits perfectly into that description.<\/p>\n
HURIWA also drew attention to another dimension of the crisis, noting that indigenous Hausas in the Northwest are also victims of genocide being perpetrated by Fulani militias who continue to seize their ancestral lands under the guise of banditry. The group said the so-called bandits, who constitute over 98 percent of the armed groups terrorizing the North, are predominantly Fulani and have continued to kill, displace, and enslave Hausa farmers without any decisive action by the authorities. According to HURIWA, Hausa and Fulani are distinct ethnic nationalities, and what is happening in the Northwest is nothing short of an ethnic cleansing campaign that the Federal Government is pretending does not exist.<\/p>\n
The association further stated that the denial by both the President and the Minister of Information is a dangerous pattern that undermines Nigeria\u2019s credibility before the international community. HURIWA therefore called on the United States and other Western allies to take diplomatic and humanitarian steps to hold the Nigerian government accountable, including the possible imposition of sanctions, until concrete action is taken to stop the genocide and protect religious freedom in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
HURIWA reaffirmed its commitment to continue speaking out against injustice, insisting that denying the obvious will not change the facts on the ground. The group urged the Federal Government to respect the Constitution, uphold Nigeria\u2019s secular identity, and ensure that every Nigerian, regardless of faith, is protected equally under the law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By George Mgbeleke The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has faulted the Federal Government\u2019s denial of ongoing genocide against Christians and indigenous Hausas in the North, describing the statement by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, as a reckless attempt to whitewash a grim reality that has persisted for decades. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7277,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1056,168,361,4940],"class_list":["post-7802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-accountability","tag-diplomatic","tag-humanitarian","tag-steps"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7802"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7803,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7802\/revisions\/7803"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}