By: Babaji Usman
A widely shared video interview by the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN News) featuring Brian Orme, the CEO of Global Christian Relief, claims that Christians are being massacred across Nigeria’s Middle Belt and northern regions.
Citing a 2023 New York Post article, Orme claims over 52,000 Christians have been “butchered or hacked to death” since 2009, framing the violence as a targeted religious cleansing campaign.
CLAIM 1
Christians are being specifically targeted and “massacred” in Nigeria, especially across the Middle Belt and North, by various Islamic extremist groups.
Also, thousands of Muslims have been massacred, kidnapped, and displaced by Boko Haram, ISWAP, armed bandits, and militias in Zamfara, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe, and Borno. Even in Middle Belt states like Plateau, Muslims have also suffered, particularly in reprisal and communal violence.
The Image in Question
A viral image, used to back these claims, depicts an Islamic funeral for victims of a mass killing, claiming they were Christians.
However, a deeper investigation reveals that the image and most of the claims in the video are misleading.
The image shows dozens of bodies laid out in white shrouds during an Islamic funeral prayer, led by an Imam. A man in the uniform of an Islamic First Aid Group stands at the front.
Earlier verified reports and reverse image searches reveal the photograph shows Muslim victims of Boko Haram violence in northern Nigeria.
While Orme frames the violence in northern and central Nigeria as driven by religious persecution, particularly by radicalised Fulani herders and Boko Haram militants, numerous conflict experts and peacebuilding organisations emphasise the complexity of the crisis.
Many violent incidents in the Middle Belt, for instance, stem from land-use disputes between nomadic herders (who are mostly Fulani Muslims) and sedentary farmers (often Christians).
These tensions have been exacerbated by climate change, population growth, and state neglect.
CLAIM 2: 52,000 Christians Killed Since 2009
This figure, cited from a 2023 New York Post article, comes from Christian advocacy groups. However, there is no independent verification of this number by neutral observers or Nigerian security agencies.
Groups like the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch do report religiously based violence in Nigeria but attribute it to a complex mix of factors, including resource conflict, banditry, terrorism, political instability, and state failures, affecting both Muslims and Christians.
Verdict
The claim that the widely circulated image represents massacred Christians is grossly MISLEADING. The picture shows Muslim victims of violence.
While Christian communities have suffered atrocities, claims that only Christians are being killed or that this is an exclusive religious cleansing effort ignore the reality that Muslims are also being killed in large numbers by the same armed groups.
In the three regions of the North, Muslims are killed and displaced more than adherents of any other religion, including Christians.
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