Republican U.S. Senator Ted Cruz has said that President Bola Tinubu’s administration is “very unhappy” with him over his efforts to push for U.S. sanctions and the designation of Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” due to alleged persecution of Christians.
Speaking on his podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz, on Wednesday, the Texas lawmaker said the Nigerian government had expressed displeasure at his legislative campaign to draw attention to the mass killing of Christians in the country.
“I will tell you, the government of Nigeria is very unhappy with me,” Cruz said. “They have decried that I introduced legislation to designate them a Country of Particular Concern, and the government is very unhappy.”
Cruz, a long-time critic of religious persecution, cited years of Boko Haram and ISWAP attacks targeting churches and Christian communities, alleging that tens of thousands have been killed since 2009. “About 50,000 Christians have been murdered in Nigeria since 2009,” he said. “Over 20,000 churches and schools have been destroyed, burned to the ground. You have Boko Haram and other Islamic terrorist groups targeting and persecuting Christians in particular.
“He accused some Nigerian political leaders of “turning a blind eye” and even enforcing blasphemy or Sharia laws that, according to him, “facilitate the persecution of Christians.”
Cruz hosted Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-born Dutch-American activist and fellow critic of Islamist extremism, who backed his remarks.
“Nigeria is the most important country in Africa; it has the largest population,” Hirsi said. “What is going on in Nigeria? The Islamists are killing Christians, burning churches, and raping their women. They are invoking blasphemy laws.”
While President Tinubu’s government has repeatedly denied claims of Christian persecution, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) reportedly affirmed Cruz’s concerns, calling for international intervention.
Cruz’s proposed “Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act” seeks to sanction Nigerian officials alleged to be complicit in religiously motivated violence or the enforcement of discriminatory religious laws.
In a related development, Riley Moore, a U.S. Congressman representing West Virginia’s 2nd District, and Senator Marco Rubio have called for stronger action. In a joint letter to the U.S. Secretary of State, they urged the administration to impose sanctions on Nigerian officials, citing “reports that corrupt cells of the Nigerian government may be complicit, and even directly involved, in some of these attacks.”
The controversy comes amid heightened tensions between Washington and Abuja, following U.S. President Donald Trump’s warning that America could intervene militarily if Nigeria fails to stop what he described as the “mass killing of Christians.”
