The Latest On The Persecution And Murder Of Christians In Nigeria
A girl in Lagos, Nigeria walks by a mural depicting the abduction of over 200 Chibok schoolgirls by Islamist insurgent group Boko Haram in the northeastern town of Chibok, circa April 2025.
On Friday, Real Time host Bill Maher accused U.S. media of ignoring what he described as the “systematic killing” of Christians in Nigeria.
“I’m not a Christian, but they are systematically killing the Christians in Nigeria,” Maher said on his HBO show, who noted that the conflict is not being reported on in mainstream news. The comments have gotten a lot of attention and led to a number of questions from our community this week.
WHAT IS GOING ON IN NIGERIA?
More than 7,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria in just the first half of 2025, according to the Nigeria-based nonprofit International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law.
Thousands more have been kidnapped, highlighting an escalating crisis that has drawn little international media coverage.
WHO’S BEHIND THE ATTACKS?
The militant group Boko Haram, whose name translates to “Western education is forbidden,” has been one of the main drivers of violence since it emerged in northern Nigeria in 2009. Their goal is to topple the Nigerian government and establish an Islamic caliphate.
In the past 16 years, Boko Haram and other Islamic extremist factions have waged a campaign of gun attacks, bombings, and abductions. The group has killed an estimated 125,000 Christians and 60,000 liberal Muslims.
The United Nations estimates more than 2 million people have been displaced from their homes since the insurgency began.
The U.S. classified Boko Haram as a terrorist organization in November 2013. The group has also been compared to Nigeria’s Taliban.
The religious breakdown of Nigeria.
Nigeria remains sharply divided by religion, with about half the population Muslim and half Christian, including Protestants and Roman Catholics, as of the early 21st century. That split has made the country particularly vulnerable to sectarian conflict, especially in the northeast, where Boko Haram is most active.
WHY HAS THE CONFLICT WORSENED LATELY?
Attacks from Boko Haram and other insurgents have intensified this year.
In 1994, Nigeria created the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), which eventually expanded and pooled military resources from Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon to oversee insurgent activity in the Lake Chad region (near Nigeria’s northeast border.)
But in March 2025, Niger pulled out of the task force, which experts say has made the shared border between Nigeria and Niger more vulnerable to insurgent attacks, including from Boko Haram. It’s also made it easier for Boko Haram to smuggle in weapons.
A map of the northeast border of Nigeria, where Boko Haram is primarily located. (Via DW)
NIGERIA’S RESPONSE TO MAHER
The Nigerian government condemned Bill Maher’s claims of a “systematic killing” of Christians and denied that Christians were being particularly targeted by Boko Haram.
Shehu Sani, a former Nigerian senator, argued that Boko Haram terrorists and bandits do not discriminate between Muslims and Christians when carrying out their attacks.
The Nigerian federal government issued a statement rejecting claims of systematic genocide of Christians as “baseless, despicable, and divisive.”
In the statement, the Nigerian government reiterated that they were committed to eradicating Boko Haram and other terrorist groups.
A MO NEWS COMMUNITY MEMBER RESPONDS
Tiffany, a member of our Mo News Premium community, discussed how she had several friends who fled Nigeria to escape persecution from Boko Haram and found refuge in the U.S. and E.U., while working to secure better lives for themselves. We are grateful that she shared her story with us today. ☺️
“This is my friend Athanansius,” Tiffany wrote. “We worked on several reports together. He’s lost two friends to Christian persecution and is the sole provider to his mother, after his father died when Athan was four.”
Tiffany and Athanansius, courtesy of Tiffany.