Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has written to US President Donald Trump, refuting allegations of targeted killings of Christians in the country.
In an open letter posted on X on Wednesday, Keyamo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said he felt compelled to speak “to add my little voice to the issue that has agitated your mind lately… the purported ‘mass killings’ of Christians in Nigeria.”
The minister, who described himself as “a lawyer of more than three decades of active practice, most of which was dedicated to activism in promotion and protection of human rights,” said the claims of Christian persecution were false.
“It would have been most unconscionable for me to associate with – let alone accept to serve or continue to serve – a government if truly there is any scintilla of truth in the assertion that Christians are specifically targeted in Nigeria for persecution, killings or harassment on account of their faith. It is simply not true,” he wrote.
Keyamo stressed that President Bola Tinubu’s administration is inclusive and committed to national unity. “I was appointed by the present President of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as his Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, along with other Christians,” he noted.
He further described Tinubu as “a known ‘moderate’, whose wife is a Pastor of one of the biggest Pentecostal Churches in Nigeria and most of his children are practising Christians.” According to him, “He will be the last person to either adopt the killing of Christians as a State Policy, or condone such acts or be complicit in them.”
Emphasising Nigeria’s multi-faith identity, the minister said, “Nigeria is a secular State and our Constitution explicitly provides for freedom of religion and prohibits the adoption of a State religion, reflecting its status as a multi-faith nation.”
Keyamo explained that the country’s security challenges were inherited and not faith-driven. “Just like the US and many countries in the world, we have faced our own fair share of societal violence; ours has been perpetrated by deadly groups known as Boko Haram (now seriously decimated), herdsmen, and cattle rustlers,” he wrote.
He said the government has made “great progress in the fight against these insurgents,” adding that “most of the security Chiefs appointed by him are Christians, so it would be unthinkable to imagine them being complicit in the killing of fellow Christians in Nigeria.”
The minister noted that the insecurity in some regions “has impacted adherents of all religions” and that the government “has not sought to protect one set of adherents and ignore the others.”
Keyamo also observed that even political rivals agreed there was no religiously targeted violence. “Ordinarily, opposition politicians will oppose the government of the day. But on this matter, President Trump, you would have observed that leaders of the opposition parties in Nigeria are united on one point: there is no targeted killing of Christians in Nigeria,” he said.
He appealed to Trump to seek a broader understanding of Nigeria’s security realities.
“President Trump, the Nigerian people ask for deep and sincere understanding from your government at this point; the Nigerian people ask for support and cooperation… we ask that you broaden your sources of information at this time so as to get a balanced view of the happenings in Nigeria.”
Keyamo ended his message with a note of goodwill, saying, “God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria and God bless the United States of America.”
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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