Oluwaseyi Adedotun

The Companion, a Muslim faith-based organisation, has strongly condemned remarks by United States Senator Ted Cruz, in which he alleged genocidal campaigns against Christians in Nigeria, describing the claims as baseless and misleading.

The group also maintained that banditry in Nigeria has no religious undertone, stressing that victims cut across all faiths and ethnicities and that the criminals are driven by greed and lawlessness rather than religion.

“We hereby register our strong disapproval of the recent remarks credited, in particular, to the United States Senator Ted Cruz, alleging genocidal campaigns against Christians in Nigeria,” the group declared.

In a statement signed by its National Amir (President), Imam Nojeem Jimoh, which was made available to THISDAY, the group maintained  that the allegations were “far removed from the Nigerian reality” and amounted to a reckless misrepresentation of the country’s complex security challenges.

“The US lawmaker appears to be acting on a script written by some irredeemable blackmailer or, worse still, indulging in a self-serving escapade aimed at attracting shameful and dirty political gains,” the statement read.

The group stressed that there is “absolutely no religious dimension to the activities of criminal groups or bandits in Nigeria,” explaining that victims of violent attacks cut across all religious and ethnic divides.

“Nigeria is doing fairly well battling with bandits even as they keep spreading,” the statement continued. “Their mischievous rampage is driven by greed and criminality, not religion. The current reality in Nigeria is far from the conjecture being painted by Senator Ted Cruz.”

The Companion further cautioned the US senator against attempting to “turn Nigeria into another Gaza through inflammatory rhetoric and divisive narratives.”

While noting that the world has become a global village where no nation can hide genocidal activities, the group advised that the United States “will do more for humanity by restraining herself from the complicit role she is playing with Israel in the genocide against the Palestine in Gaza and the Middle East region in general where Israel is recklessly attacking sovereign nations at will.”

“Senator Cruz and his co-travellers should purge themselves of such dangerous assumptions and avoid stoking religious tension in a country striving to overcome its multifaceted security and developmental challenges,” The Companion warned.

The organisation concluded by reaffirming its commitment to “peace, justice, and interfaith harmony,” while challenging the US lawmaker “to share any credible information they possess about the bandits attacking various mineral-rich communities in Nigeria.”

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