Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the 19 Northern states and the FCT, Reverend John Joseph Hayab, has described the persistent killings of Christians in Northern Nigeria as genocide, condemning what he called the continued denial of their persecution as “unjust to victims and their families.”
Speaking on Wednesday, Reverend Hayab stressed that the violence against Christians predates the Boko Haram insurgency, tracing it back several decades.
“Can I consider what has been happening as genocide against Christians? And my straightforward answer is yes. Y-E-S, yes,” he declared, noting that dismissing the atrocities as mere farmers-herders conflicts ignores the lived realities of victims.
“Anybody who comes out and says there is no Christian genocide, it’s not fair to the Christians of Northern Nigeria,” he said. “Some of us have buried many in numbers… We can give those numbers and incidences with dates.”
He recalled earlier episodes of religious violence that targeted Christians, including the 2000 Sharia crisis in Kaduna and the 2002 Miss World riots, during which hundreds were killed and churches burnt. “I actually did the burial,” he said, recounting how pastors and worshippers were slain in those attacks.
Beyond the killings, Reverend Hayab highlighted the systemic discrimination faced by Christians in education and worship, alleging exclusion from certain universities and lack of access to chapels in public schools. “Our children cannot be admitted to certain universities, and their crime is not because they are not qualified — they are Christians,” he said. “Even in public schools, they have to worship in classrooms because there are no chapels for them.”
He urged the government and society to acknowledge the scale of persecution as a foundation for national healing. “If we acknowledge that Christians have been killed and truly, we’ve buried many, then we can start to correct it. But when you say there was nothing wrong, we will keep lying to ourselves,” he warned.
Tracing the roots of extremism, Hayab pointed to the 1970s Maitatsine uprising, saying that while the term “terrorism” was not used at the time, the acts met that definition. “What Maitatsine did was exactly terrorism,” he said, adding that Boko Haram later “made the ideology official,” built on the belief that anyone who does not accept their brand of Islam is an infidel.
He also cited divisive rhetoric by some past religious figures who declared that a Christian or woman could not lead a Muslim, saying such teachings helped entrench intolerance that continues to shape Nigeria’s politics and coexistence.
Reverend Hayab concluded by calling for honest dialogue and collective action to end the violence, urging leaders to prioritize unity, equality, and justice over denial and division.
