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* Backs Trump’s comment, urges Tinubu to overhaul security system
Sunday Ehigiator
The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) has renewed its call on the Federal Government to end what it described as an ongoing “Christian genocide” in the country, warning that continued silence in the face of mass killings could threaten Nigeria’s unity.
Speaking after an emergency executive meeting of the Fellowship held at its national headquarters in Lagos, PFN President, Bishop Francis Wale Oke, said the Christian body would no longer remain silent while Christians are “targeted, killed, raped and displaced” across several states.
“There is Christian genocide going on in Nigeria,” Oke declared. “If we call it by any other name, it will bring Nigeria down. We are crying out to our international friends, beginning with America and Donald Trump. Whatever you can do to help our government put an end to it, come quickly and get it done.”
The cleric cited recent mass killings in Benue and Plateau States, where, according to him, hundreds of Christians were massacred on Christmas Day and in Dogon Noma.
He described the incidents as clear evidence of systematic targeting.
“When 501 Christians were massacred in Dogon Noma in Plateau, what do we call that? When Christmas Day turned into a bloody day in Benue with hundreds killed, what name should we give it?” he asked.
Oke also referenced the cases of Leah Sharibu; still held captive by Boko Haram since 2018; and Deborah Samuel, who was lynched in Sokoto in 2022, as examples of persecution against Christians.
The PFN President said he and other Christian leaders had in the past raised the matter with former President Muhammadu Buhari but were disappointed that the administration failed to address their concerns.
“We spoke strongly about this and the president listened to us, but he ignored the main issue we came for,” Oke said. “That day, I knew his government was complicit in what was going on.”
Backing U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent comments on Christian persecution in Nigeria, Oke said Trump “only echoed what Nigerian Christians have been saying for years”.
He alleged that the killings were being carried out by armed groups including Fulani herdsmen, Boko Haram and ISWAP, using religion as a cover.
“The evidence is all over the place. It is evil, it is bloodshed, it is mass murder, and it is genocide. The time to stop it is now,” he said. “Christians in this nation must be free to practise their faith in any part of Nigeria as bona fide citizens.”
Bishop Oke called on President Bola Tinubu to urgently overhaul the nation’s security architecture, bring perpetrators of religious violence to justice, and ensure that those with extremist sympathies are removed from sensitive positions.
“The government should prove by action, not words, that it is not complicit,” he said. “When hundreds are buried in mass graves and the whole world sees it, who can deny it? Why should we play politics with the blood of Nigerians?”
He also criticized the government’s policy of rehabilitating “repentant terrorists,” calling it a grave security risk.
The PFN meeting, attended by its national and regional leaders, reaffirmed the Fellowship’s commitment to national unity, peace and the protection of fundamental human rights. The body urged the media to “side with the oppressed” and to report the truth “without fear or bias”.
“We are not going to keep quiet,” Bishop Oke concluded. “We will keep raising our voices until justice is done and every Nigerian, regardless of faith, can live in peace. The truth may be suppressed for a time, but it cannot be buried forever.”
