How Can The World Still Deny Nigeria’s Christian Genocide?

The Christian genocide happening in Nigeria has finally started to come to light. After 10 years of working amid the violence, I have never seen more attention drawn to this crisis than right now.

Recently, the media, government, and religious institutions seem to be waking up and finally getting the message that there is a systematic targeting of Christians in Nigeria, particularly in the Northern regions. These areas are approximately 90% Muslim and largely controlled by Boko Haram, ISIS-WA (ISWAP), and various other terrorist groups.

As of right now, Nigeria is the most dangerous place in the world to be a Christian. More Christians are killed every year in Nigeria than anywhere else in the world. In fact, of all those martyred for their faith in the entire world, 70% were killed in Nigeria. In the first 220 days of 2025, over 7,000 Christians were killed in Northern Nigeria.

This is a part of the world where Christians are second-class citizens. They often are not allowed access to food, clean water, and medical treatment, simply because they are Christians.

OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT/AFP via Getty Images

Earlier this year, when the village of Yelwata was violently attacked, 250 Christians were killed in a single night. The media largely ignored the massacre, and no one was held accountable. There were no arrests, no prosecutions. It was as though nothing happened. I visited Yelwata shortly after the attack. One man, who lost 20 members of his family in the violence, described Muslims setting fire to homes and shooting women and children as they tried to escape the flames.

After working in Northern Nigeria for so long, I knew this was far from an isolated event, and it was just a matter of time before the next massacre took place. I also knew that as soon as the truth about what’s happening to Christians in Nigeria came to light in America, the genocide deniers would start to emerge.

Shortly after Bill Maher’s clip went viral, prominent and trusted media outlets, as well as Nigerian government officials, began vehemently refuting the claims.

Nigeria’s Foreign Minister called it a “gross misrepresentation,” saying that such claims are a threat to Nigeria’s global image and to foreign investments. Because nothing says “we’re not committing genocide” like whining about bad press and lost investment funds.

When Sen. Ted Cruz introduced the “Nigeria Religious Freedom and Accountability Act of 2025,” the Nigerian government doubled down, claiming it was merely a crisis of narrative. They maintain that Muslims are being killed in the violence as well, which means that claims of a “Christian genocide” are unfounded.

As in all things, the best lies are partial truths. Yes, Muslims are being killed alongside Christians. However, the number of Muslim deaths when compared to Christian deaths is grossly disproportionate, and many of the Muslims killed are a result of collateral damage during targeted attacks on Christians. Also, Muslims who do not hold the radical beliefs of Boko Haram and other terrorist groups are targeted as well.

Media outlets like Al Jazeera featured op-eds saying “there is no Christian genocide” and “simplistic genocide claims fuel propaganda.” More frustrating, Massad Boulos, a Muslim and Senior Advisor to President Trump on Arab and African affairs, has dismissed the claims as well.

Kajdi Szabolcs. Getty Images. Source: “World reference atlas”

Genocide denial, like genocide itself, is nothing new.

During World War II, Holocaust deniers actively dismissed the claims that Jews were being targeted. Even now, the Jewish Holocaust has deniers who still actively propagate the idea that the intentional and targeted imprisonment, torture, starvation, and execution of over 6 million European Jews (plus another 6 million “undesirables”) ever took place.

In the 1970s, international media and governments denied that there was genocide happening in Cambodia under Pol Pot. Even during the Rwandan genocide, the world was told that the Tutsi people were not being targeted for mutilation, sexual abuse, and execution.

We now know those denials were categorically false.

During every genocide throughout history, we were told, like Dorothy and her crew in the “Wizard of Oz,” “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.” It’s a convenient way for those who are committing genocide to continue their violence and persecution under the cover of darkness. Genocide deniers always take the same approach and tell us to ignore what we see and just believe what they say.

WATCH: The Daily Wire’s Isabel Brown confronts the genocide in Nigeria head-on:

As someone who has seen it with my own eyes and lived it for many years, I’d find the deniers of the Nigerian genocide claims laughable if it weren’t so horrible. There is a concerted effort to wipe out the Christian population in Northern Nigeria. I have stood at the mass graves. I have buried my friends. I have prayed with the grieving widow who begs God for the salvation of her husband’s murderer.

All the while, we are being told not to believe what we see and to blindly believe what we’re told.

Just last week, a delegation of American fact finders was invited by Nigeria’s National Security Advisor to investigate allegations of persecution against Christians. What they found should surprise no one. Their fact-finding mission confirmed what those of us who live it already know. Their findings substantiate the claims of the ongoing persecution and slaughter of Christians in Nigeria. The investigators went so far as to say it is “a calculated and long-running genocide.”

The genocide is real. It is calculated. And it’s been going on for a long time. Now, it’s time for all of America to stop burying our heads in the sand. The world has stood by and watched genocide happen time and again, without taking action. This is our opportunity to stop the genocide of Christians now, before it’s too late.

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Brad Brandon is the founder and CEO of Across Nigeria. Since 2018, he has been actively serving in the foreign mission field. He serves predominantly in high-risk, highly persecuted areas like Northern Nigeria and other parts of West Africa. Through Pastor Brad and the Across Nigeria team, ground-breaking work is being done to bring the gospel into areas with the most intense opposition. His passion is to reach people in these areas with the gospel of Jesus Christ and to help persecuted Christians who live under the constant threat of violence because of their faith in Christ.

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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