A tense exchange unfolded on Piers Morgan’s programme as Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, clashed with former Canadian lawmaker Goldie Ghamari over allegations that Christians in Nigeria are facing systematic persecution.
The interview, broadcast on Tuesday, began with Tuggar rejecting figures Morgan cited from the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety). Morgan referenced claims that more than 50,000 Christians have been killed and 18,000 churches destroyed in Nigeria since 2009.
Tuggar dismissed the statistics as inaccurate, emphasising that Nigeria does not record fatalities by religion and treats all victims as Nigerians, regardless of faith.
When pressed for official numbers, Tuggar stated that within the last five years, the government had recorded 177 Christian deaths and 102 attacks on churches.
The conversation intensified when Ghamari joined the debate. She argued that the violence in Nigeria amounted to jihad, even linking the situation to the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
She asserted, “I don’t need to know Nigeria’s Constitution to recognise that when someone shouts ‘Allahu Akbar’ before killing 200 Christians and burning churches, that isn’t banditry, it’s jihad.”
Ghamari further accused the Nigerian government of having ties with Iran, claiming that Nigerian students displaying images of the Ayatollah was evidence of back-channel collaboration.
She insisted that Nigerians should investigate “connections between the Nigerian government and the Islamic Republic of Iran,” and accused Tuggar of lying and avoiding the truth.
Tuggar responded sharply, dismissing her comments as baseless and misinformed. He criticised Ghamari for oversimplifying Nigerian issues and turning Nigerian lives into political talking points.
Addressing her claims about President Bola Tinubu and Vice-President Kashim Shettima, he explained Nigeria’s tradition of balancing leadership between regions with the president from the South and the vice-president from the North.
When Morgan asked whether he condemned attacks on Christians by Islamist extremists, Tuggar said he did, adding that he personally lost his father-in-law in a Boko Haram attack.
He stressed that the extremist group targets Muslims even more frequently, stating, “Boko Haram’s number one enemy is a Muslim who rejects their ideology.”
Ghamari maintained her stance, arguing that attacks on Muslims do not “negate a targeted ethnic cleansing of Christians in Nigeria.” Tuggar retaliated, accusing her of inciting conflict without understanding Nigeria’s complexities.
“People like her sit in distant places and stoke wars they know nothing about,” he said. He likened her comments to the foreign meddling that contributed to Sudan’s breakup and argued that such actors aim to destabilise Nigeria because it is Africa’s largest democracy and a stabilising force in the region.
“It won’t happen. Move on to your next project. You’re a disgrace to Canada,” he added.
The controversy comes weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump designated Nigeria a “country of particular concern” in response to claims of a Christian genocide.
Trump argued that Christianity faces an existential threat in Nigeria and called on U.S. lawmakers to investigate the situation urgently.
The Nigerian government has repeatedly rejected the genocide allegations.
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