‘Bullets Don’t Discriminate’: Presidency Insists Violence in Nigeria Affects People of All Faiths
ABUJA — The Presidency has firmly pushed back against growing international accusations of state-sanctioned religious persecution, asserting that the security challenges plaguing Nigeria affect citizens of all faiths equally and are driven by criminality rather than religious bias.
The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, issued the clarification on Friday, just days after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to sanction Nigeria and designated the nation as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) over alleged failures to protect Christians.
Speaking to State House correspondents, Onanuga rejected the narrative that Christians are the sole targets of bandits and insurgents, describing such claims as “misleading and dangerously divisive.”
“Criminals Have No Religion”
The Presidency maintained that the bandits terrorizing the North-West and North-Central regions do not check the religious identity of their victims before striking.
“The bullets of these criminals do not discriminate between a Muslim and a Christian,” Onanuga stated. “When bandits attack a village in Zamfara or a market in Kaduna, they kill and kidnap everyone in sight. To frame this as a war solely against Christians is to ignore the thousands of Muslims who have also been displaced, kidnapped, or killed by these same terror groups.”
He emphasized that President Bola Tinubu is committed to protecting every Nigerian life, regardless of creed, and has ramped up military operations to flush out terrorists from their forest hideouts.
The Trigger: Kaduna Kidnappings
The government’s defense comes in the wake of a heated controversy over the abduction of 172 worshippers from three churches in Kurmin Wali, Kaduna State, on January 18, 2026.
While the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), led by its Northern Chairman Rev. Joseph John Hayab, described the incident as a targeted attack on the church, the Presidency insists it was an act of economic opportunism by criminal gangs seeking ransom.
“We acknowledge the pain of the families in Kaduna,” Onanuga added. “But we must be careful not to play into the hands of terrorists who want to trigger a religious war. The security agencies are working round the clock to rescue all victims—Christians and Muslims alike.”
Diplomatic standoff
The statement also served as a direct response to the United States. Earlier this week, the Trump administration warned it might launch “unilateral airstrikes” against terror camps in Nigeria if the government fails to halt what it termed the “existential threat” facing Nigerian Christians.
The Presidency urged international partners to support Nigeria with intelligence and technology rather than issuing threats that undermine the country’s sovereignty.
“We need partnership, not punishment,” the statement concluded. “Nigeria is fighting a complex asymmetrical war, and we are winning it for the sake of all our people.”