The Senior Pastor of Guiding Light Assembly, Wale Adefarasin, has dismissed widespread claims on social media suggesting that Nigeria is experiencing a genocide against Christians, describing such assertions as exaggerated.
In a video of his Sunday sermon that has since gone viral, Mr Adefarasin argued that the recent violence in parts of the country, though tragic and persistent, does not constitute genocide.
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He said, “What is happening in Nigeria does not amount to genocide against Christians,” Mr Adefarasin said. “Over 40 years that I have been a Christian, there have been killings in southern Kaduna, killings on the Plateau, there have been riots. Sometimes, I think it was in France, an image of Prophet Muhammad was defaced, and as a result of that, there were killings of Christians in Nigeria.”
He added that the recent framing of events by Western voices gives a false impression that Christians in Nigeria face imminent extermination.
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“It’s nothing new. It doesn’t amount to genocide. The way the West are talking about it, it’s as if a Christian steps on the street, his head will be blown off,” he said.
Pastor Adefarasin’s comments follow a recent post by the US President Donald Trump, who, in a post made on Truth Social on Saturday, warned that the US military might be ordered to invade the country and “wipe out the radical Islamic terrorist” responsible for the claimed attacks on Christians if the Nigerian government fails to act.
Mr Trump also warned that the US will halt all aid to Nigeria, while noting that he has ordered the Department of War to prepare for possible military action.
Foreign interest
Mr Adefarasin, however, questioned the sincerity of the sudden Western concern for Nigerian Christians. He suggested that foreign interest may be linked to Nigeria’s emerging control over key resources, including oil refining capacity and mineral deposits critical to modern technology.
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“I’m trying to understand this sudden love for Christians,” he said. “Is it because we now have one of the largest refineries in the world, and no longer have to ship raw materials abroad and bring the finished products? Or is it because of the 21st-century minerals we now have in our earth that are used to generate nuclear power for electric vehicles?”
“Are those the reasons that our friends are threatening to invade our country to defend and protect Nigerian Christians?” he asked.
The Nigerian government has, however, repeatedly denied any state-backed targeting of Christians, insisting that the violence affects citizens across faith and ethnic lines.
