October 13, 2025
Sowore

Human rights activist and African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has accused both the United States and the Nigerian government of hypocrisy over their handling of the persistent killings and insecurity ravaging the country.

Sowore said the bloodshed across Nigeria has little to do with religion, insisting that the violence is fuelled by bad governance, corruption, and leadership failure rather than Christian or Muslim persecution.

He made the remarks while reacting to renewed calls by some U.S. lawmakers urging Washington to designate Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) over alleged persecution of Christians.

“There’s genocide against the poor, against Muslims, against Christians, against children. Trying to separate it by religion is dishonest,” Sowore said.

The former presidential candidate explained that the country’s crisis has been wrongly portrayed as a religious war, noting that both Muslims and Christians have fallen victim to bandit attacks, kidnappings, and killings.

“The country doesn’t check who carries a Bible or a Koran before counting the dead,” he added.

Sowore also criticised the U.S. government for what he described as “selective morality,” questioning its silence on similar atrocities elsewhere.

“Why is the U.S. silent about Gaza, where Muslims are being killed by Israel? That’s international hypocrisy,” he said.

He argued that Nigeria’s insecurity cuts across all regions and faiths, stressing that the real culprit is failed leadership.

“In the North, gunmen even attack mosques. Just recently, 35 worshippers were killed, and the attackers were likely Muslims too. The problem isn’t religion—it’s irresponsible governance,” Sowore said.

The activist warned that framing Nigeria’s crisis as religious persecution only distracts from the underlying issues and allows political leaders to evade responsibility.

“When the U.S. says it wants to protect Christians, that’s not a solution. If all Christians were taken away, people would still be killed,” he argued.

He maintained that until the Nigerian government confronts corruption, insecurity, and poverty head-on, the killings will persist irrespective of religion.

Meanwhile, U.S. lawmaker Riley M. Moore, in a letter dated October 6, 2025, urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to act against Nigeria over what he called the “systematic persecution of Christians.”

Moore described Nigeria as “the deadliest place in the world to be a Christian,” and urged Washington to consider halting arms sales to the country until the killings are stopped.

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