Rapper and singer-songwriter Nicki Minaj appealed for global action to defend religious freedom at the United States Mission to the United Nations on Tuesday (November 18).
“No group should ever be persecuted for practicing their religion,” she said, emphasizing that shared beliefs are not a prerequisite for dignity or safety and that diversity of faith “shouldn’t make one person feel less safe than anyone in any room.”
Minaj warned that “faith is under attack in way too many places.”
“In Nigeria, Christians are being targeted, driven from their homes and killed,” she said. “Churches have been burned. Families have been torn apart. And entire communities live in fear constantly, simply because of how they pray.”
Addressing violence in Nigeria is “not about taking sides” but about “uniting humanity,” she said.
The rapper also addressed her fan base directly.
“Barbz… I love you so very much,” she said, thanking them for their support throughout her career and reiterating that she wasn’t taking sides. She linked her advocacy to longstanding personal values, adding that standing up to injustice is “what I’ve always stood for” and that she will continue to care “if anyone, anywhere is being persecuted for their beliefs.”
Last week, the African Union Commission chairperson said there was no genocide in northern Nigeria, rejecting accusations by US President Donald Trump that “very large numbers” of Christians were being killed in Africa’s most populous country.
“What’s going on in the northern part of Nigeria has nothing to do with the kind of atrocities we see in Sudan or in some part of eastern DRC,” Mahmoud Ali Youssouf told reporters at the United Nations in New York on November 12, referring to Democratic Republic of Congo.
“Think twice before… making such statements,” he said. “The first victims of Boko Haram are Muslims, not Christians.”
The extremist Islamist armed group Boko Haram has also terrorized northeast Nigeria, an insurgency that has killed tens of thousands of people over the past 15 years. Human rights experts have said most Boko Haram victims have been Muslims.
Trump earlier this month said he has asked the Defense Department to prepare for possible “fast” military action if Nigeria fails to crack down on the killing of Christians. He did not provide any specific evidence for his accusation.
He also threatened to “stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.”
Nigeria’s Foreign Ministry has said the country would keep fighting violent extremism and that it hoped Washington would remain a close ally, saying it “will continue to defend all citizens, irrespective of race, creed, or religion.”
Nigeria, which has 200 ethnic groups practicing Christianity, Islam and traditional religions, has a long history of peaceful coexistence. But it has also seen flare-ups of violence among groups, often exacerbated by ethnic divisions or conflict over scarce resources.
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