The Senior Pastor of Guiding Light Assembly, Wale Adefarasin has reacted to United States’ claims of genocide against Christians in Nigeria, describing them as exaggerated and questioning America’s sudden concern for Nigerian Christians.

In a video that went viral on Monday, Pastor Adefarasin criticised what he described as an exaggerated Western narrative portraying Nigerian Christians as victims of genocide.

“For 40 years that I’ve been a Christian, there have been killings in southern Kaduna, killings on the Plateau, and riots,” he said. “This isn’t new. It’s wrong, yes—but it’s not genocide. The way the West talks about it, you’d think a Christian can’t step outside without being killed.”

The cleric acknowledged that attacks on Christians in parts of the country were real and condemnable but insisted they were not part of a new or coordinated extermination campaign.

Adefarasin went further to suggest that the West’s renewed concern might be less about religion and more about Nigeria’s growing economic and strategic significance.

“I’m trying to understand this sudden affection for Christians. Is it because Nigeria now has one of the largest refineries in the world and no longer needs to export crude? Or is it about the new minerals in our soil that are vital for nuclear energy and electric vehicles?”

His comments come amid rising diplomatic tension following Donald Trump’s threat of possible U.S. military intervention in Nigeria over what he described as the mass killing of Christians.

Pastor Adefarasin reacts to U.S. claims of genocide against Christians in Nigeria