WorldStage– Reno Bemigho Omokri, a Nigerian author, columnist, adventure traveller, and social media influencer, has described as untrue the recent claim by an American senator, Ted Cruz, that there’s genocide against people of Christian faith facilitated by state officials in Nigeria.
Rather, he challenged the Senator to mention names of such state officials and shame them, if he truly believes such exist.
Omokri threw the challenge on Tuesday, October 14, 2025, during a press conference held at Transcorps Hilton Hotel in Abuja to address Cruz’s allegations.
Omokri refuted the claims as false and based on misinformation, challenging Cruz to provide evidence of Nigerian officials facilitating religious persecution.
According to him, the claims lack factual basis, stating that the notion of a Christian genocide is against common sense, comparing the accusation to claiming a genocide against Black people in the U.S. based on crime statistics.
He noted that deaths from terror attacks in Nigeria, according to the Global Terror Index, had decreased significantly since 2015.
He argued that the violence in Nigeria is the work of extremists and affects Nigerians of all faiths, including Muslims.
Omokri cited that three of the four Nigerian service chiefs are Christian, which, in his view, makes claims of state-sponsored religious persecution illogical.
He however suggested that the security challenges stemmed from the destabilization of Libya during the Obama administration, adding that the refusal of the Obama government to provide weapons and intelligence to Nigeria to fight insurgent groups compounded the issue.
He challenged Senator Cruz to name and shame any Nigerian official he believes is facilitating terror and to visit Nigeria for a fact-finding mission.
The Texas Senator had introduced the “Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act of 2025” in the U.S. Senate, seeking to penalize Nigerian officials for allegedly enabling violence and enforcing blasphemy laws.
Several Nigerian officials, including the Minister of Information, have publicly rejected the allegations as false and baseless.
The government has also initiated diplomatic talks with the U.S. regarding the claims.
In response to the claims, the Nigerian Senate established a committee to consider the issue further.
Also speaking at the press conference, Republican Mayor of the US city of Blanco in Texas, Mike Arnold said contrary to claims, Nigerian government does not have to be involved in those allegedly sponsoring Boko Haram in the country.
He also, corroborates Reno Omokri’s position that the Nigerian government has deradicalization camps for repentant Boko Haram where children who were forcefully taken by Terrorist Boko Haram leaders and brainwashed to join the terror group, are deradicalized.
While debunking the claim that there is Christian genocide in Nigeria, Omokri clarified the difference between genocide and terrorism, the latter which he says is what happens in Nigeria.
According to him, “A genocide is when you have a deliberate act of policy by a state actor or by people who are connected to state actors against a particular ethnicity, against a particular religion.”
“The claim is not true. So, if you ask me if there is a genocide in Nigeria, of course there’s not. However, if you believe that Nigerian state officials are facilitating terror, mention them, name them. Help us name them.”
Omokri said the Obama administration is to be blamed for unleashing Boko Haram in Nigeria.
He said, “in Nigeria, due to policies unleashed by the Obama administration, we have had security issues and we are fighting them. We’re doing the best that we can.
“I believe Senator Cruz means well, that’s my personal belief, but that he doesn’t have the right information. If he knows the names of the Nigerian officials who are facilitating this genocide, he should name and shame them. Because he did say that he knows and that he’s aware of them”.
While stating that killings in Nigeria has reduced in 2025 as Against prior to 2015, Omokri said that deaths recorded in Nigeria, according to the Global Terror Index, reduced from 7,512 in 2015 to 565 in 2024.
Similarly, Mayor Mike Arnold, speaking at the conference, said that Boko Haram commits genocide, but admitted on camera that Boko Haram was “unleashed” by the Obama administration.
Mr. Omokri confronted Mayor Arnold about whether any Nigerian government official was facilitating genocide against Christians as alleged by Senator Ted Cruz, and Mr. Arnold said that by the definition of genocide, the government of Nigeria do not have to be involved.
Again, Omokri asked Mayor Arnold on camera if he was aware of Congressman Scott Paris saying that the previous U.S. government funded Boko Haram via USAID. He admitted being aware.
Reno Omokri responded saying, ” if Senator Ted Cruz is seeking government involvement in facilitating the activities of ISWAP and Boko Haram, he should look closer to home, as such was not happening in Nigeria.”
Put on the spot and asked by Mr. Omokri to name any Nigerian official or branch of government that has, in any way, shape or form supported or facilitated Boko Haram, and Mr. Arnold cited the instance of repented Boko Haram camps.
Mr. Omokri then explained that those so-called ‘repented Boko Haram’ camps were not for actual Boko Haram terrorists and leaders, but for former child soldiers forcefully taken from their communities by Boko Haram and made to bear arms and that it was a figment of deradicalization.
Also speaking at the conference was the Secretary-General of the Jama’at Nasril Islam (JNI), Prof. Khalid Aliyu who also debunked the claim of Christian genocide in Nigeria as untrue.
According to him, the claims are strange and dangerous. “It sounds really very strange for such an unverified claim that there is Christian genocide in Nigeria. I think it is really very dangerous to change the paradigm and the narrative from the act of criminality, and identify it with ethnic nationality or religious inclination.
“I think lumping a baseless claim onto certain people does not hold water. I think this claim is intended to create bad blood and to further extend the challenges we are going through in this country. And I think there may be a sinister motive behind such claims, to really draw us back from going out of the quagmire we are passing through.
“And so this claim, to me, is baseless. They don’t hold water. There’s no truth in them. And we hope we’ll see the truth in the light of its worth and value.”
