Global | November 13, 2025 — The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, has dismissed claims by U.S. President Donald Trump alleging that Christians are facing genocide in northern Nigeria, saying such assertions misrepresent the complex realities of the country’s security crisis.
At a press conference in New York on Wednesday, Youssouf said there was “no genocide in northern Nigeria,” stressing that the violence in the region affects both Muslims and Christians.
“The complexity of the situation in northern Nigeria should push us to think twice before making such statements,” he cautioned.
Youssouf further noted that the first victims of Boko Haram, the region’s most prominent jihadist group, are Muslims, not Christians.
Trump had earlier threatened to carry out an armed intervention in Nigeria, claiming that “radical Islamists were killing Christians in very large numbers” and that Christianity in the country faced “an existential threat.” He warned that if Nigeria fails to curb the violence, the United States would “attack — fast, vicious, and sweet.”
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation with over 230 million people, remains deeply divided along religious lines, with a largely Christian south and a Muslim-majority north. The country has struggled with jihadist insurgencies, communal clashes, and banditry that have claimed tens of thousands of lives.
According to United Nations figures, the Boko Haram insurgency — active since 2009 — has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced over two million residents, affecting communities of all faiths.
