First on Fox: A diplomatic struggle is being held between the leading Republican Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas and Nigerian government officials. Cruz has warned that he will hold these officials responsible for the reported “mass slaughter” of tens of thousands of Christians in Nigeria. Officials have claimed that Cruz lies, where someone claims that despite the fact that even the pope publicly evokes the murders, there is religious harmony in the country.
According to the 2025 World Watch List (WWL) of the international Christian interest group Open Doors International, Nigeria is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a Christian. An estimated 48% of the population is a Christian. But of the 4,476 Christians who died worldwide in the last reporting period of WWL, were 3,100 of those who died – 69% – in Nigeria.
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Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has introduced the Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act, who, according to him, would attack officials ‘with powerful sanctions and other instruments’. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
On Saturday, the spokesperson for the Nigerian president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, told a newspaper in Lagos, Nigeria, that Cruz “had to put this malignant, artificial lies” over the murders.
Pope Leo XIV condemned the murder of a maximum of 200 people in the Yelatea community in Nigeria on 13 June 2025. (Associated press)
Cruz said: “Since 2009, more than 50,000 Christians have been slaughtered in Nigeria and more than 20,000 churches and Christian schools have been destroyed. These atrocities are directly related to the policy of Nigerian federal and state officials. They are the result of decisions of specific people, in specific places and at specific times – and it says a lot about who is getting on it.”
On Friday, Cruz posted on X: “Ignore and even facilitating officials in Nigeria and facilitating the mass murder of Christians by Islamic jihadists. It is time to call those responsible to account.” He further referred to a new bill that he had submitted in the Senate: “My Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act would attack these officials with powerful sanctions and other instruments.”
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This immediately provoked a response from the Nigerian presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga. When Onanuga was interviewed by the Nigerian Daily Post the next day, he demanded: “Senator, stop with this malignant, artificial lies against my country. Christians are not the target. We have religious harmony in our country.”
Idris also stated: “Nigeria is a multi -religious country, which means that it is a country that has several religions. We have Christians, we have Muslims, we even have people who believe in any of these two religions. Nigeria is a very tolerant country. The government of Nigeria strives to ensure that there is extremist in this country.”
Members of the St. Leo Catholic Church will hold a procession on 13 April 2025 on the occasion of Palm Sunday in Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria. (Adekunle Ajayi/Getty Images)
Idris continued: “It is unfortunately that some of these extremists have killed a number of Christians and a number of Muslims almost everywhere where this violent extremism has support. It is therefore not true (the accusation of Senator Cruz). We think that is very unhappy, it is absolutely incorrect to say that there is an absolute impulse to say that there is absolutely incorrect attempt to say that there is an absolute point of interest in saying that there is a prefining attempt to say that there is absolutely a pretentious. It is not correct and we really think so.
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Blair added: “According to the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa,, ” The data about murdered citizens-apart from the military and terrorist deaths-in northern nigeria are unambiguous: more Christians are killed by the extremists than Muslims-if you are a Christian, you have 6.5 times more chance of being killed than a Muslim. This does not make the suffering of a Muslim less important. It only makes it less likely. “
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu recently told a Nigerian newspaper that Ted Cruz “has to put this malignant, artificial lies” over the murders. (Ton Molina/Getty Images)
The diocese of Makurdi of Bishop Wilfred Anagbe is almost exclusively Christian. But the continuous and escalating attacks by Islamic Fulani militants led him to testify during a hearing at the Congress in March in Washington, said that there is “an Islamic agenda for the long term (in Nigeria) to homogenize. The population of the half of the half of the half of the half of the half of the half of the half of the half of the of the half of the of the half of the of the half of the of the half of the of the half of the of the half of the of the half of the middle of the middle of the Nigeria to reduce and ultimately eliminate these terrorists on a jihad and conquer areas and rename them accordingly. ”
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Idris was opposed to the testimony of the bishop in the congress: “Let me say that the position of the bishop is extreme. It is not true. The Nigerian government has invalidated that in the past.”
Funerals for about 27 Christians who are reportedly murdered by Islamist Fulani Stam members in the village of Bindi Ta-Hoss, Nigeria. (Thanks to: Christian Solidarity International (CSI))
Blair van Open Doors, with access to Nigerian villagers, replied: ‘We must listen to the voices of those who have experienced the violence firsthand. People on the spot do not trust that someone will pay for these violent crimes. This is because over the years they have seen hundreds of suspects arrest and then released most of them, without ever being charged or brought to court. “
Blair concluded: ‘The right to life, guaranteed on the basis of Article 33 of the Nigerian Constitution of 1999, is useless unless the State resolutely occurs to punish those who violate it. The persistent culture of impunity will only result in more bloodshed and the trust of the public in the rule of law will continue to work out. “
