The House of Representatives has rejected the claim of religious persecution and genocide against Christians in Nigeria.
The house described it as a “misleading narrative.”
The House has called for a coordinated diplomatic and domestic response to a proposed legislation in the United States Senate seeking to designate Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” over alleged violation of religious freedom.
The Green Chamber’s resolutions followed a motion by the deputy speaker, Benjamin Okezie Kalu, and several other lawmakers during plenary on Wednesday.
US Congressman, Sen. Ted Cruz, recently introduced a bill seeking to protect Christians in Nigeria from what he described as religious persecution and genocide.
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He said, “Nigerian Christians are being targeted and executed for their faith by Islamist terrorist groups, and are being forced to submit to sharia law and blasphemy laws across Nigeria. It is long past time to impose real costs on the Nigerian officials who facilitate these activities and my Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act uses new and existing tools to do exactly that. I urge my colleagues to advance this critical legislation expeditiously.”
President Bola Tinubu, the information minister, Mohammed Idris and several bodies in Nigeria had dismissed the claims of genocide against Christians in Nigeria, saying portraying Nigeria’s security challenges as a targeted campaign against a single religious group is a gross misrepresentation of reality.
Tinubu in Owerri, Imo State, recently, insisted that “no faith is under siege” in Nigeria.
Also, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) said Muslims are also victims of attacks by terrorist groups.
Kalu, in his motion titled: “Urgent Need for a Coordinated Diplomatic and Domestic Response to the Proposed Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act of 2025 (U.S. Senate Bill S.2747) and to Mischaracterisations of Nigeria’s Security and Religious-Freedom Landscape,” drew the attention of the House to what he described as a “misleading narrative” being advanced by the proposed U.S. legislation.
He noted that the bill, introduced in the U.S. Senate on September 9, 2025, seeks to mandate the American Secretary of State to designate Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern” and to impose sanctions on Nigerian officials under Executive Order 13818, also known as the Global Magnitsky Act.
Kalu said the proposed law builds on earlier recommendations by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), which had repeatedly called for Nigeria’s designation on grounds of alleged state failure to protect religious minorities.
However, the Deputy Speaker stressed that such portrayals are inaccurate and fail to reflect the complexity of Nigeria’s security situation.
“Insecurity in Nigeria is driven by multiple factors — insurgency, criminal banditry, separatist violence, farmer-herder clashes and communal disputes — and affects citizens of all faiths,” Kalu said.
“It is misleading to attribute these challenges to state policy or to frame them as religious persecution,” he said.
He reminded the House that Nigeria’s Constitution guarantees freedom of religion and prohibits the adoption of any state religion, while successive administrations, security agencies, and civil society groups have worked to protect worshippers and prosecute offenders.
“We must not allow foreign mischaracterisations to distort our reality or undermine our strategic relations.
“Nigeria remains committed to religious tolerance, constitutional freedoms, and inclusive governance,” he said.
