The Republican Mayor of Blanco, Texas, Mike Arnold, has urged a shift in America’s understanding of Nigeria’s security crisis, saying millions of displaced Nigerians are victims of terrorism, not religious persecution.
Speaking in an interview on ARISE News on Monday, Arnold said his ongoing visit to Nigeria is part of a fact-finding mission to assess claims by US Senator Ted Cruz that the Nigerian government is facilitating a “Christian genocide.”
“Since 2019, this is my sixth time in Nigeria, and it’s been entirely focused on understanding and telling the story of the internally displaced,” Arnold said. “We’re producing a documentary to capture their experiences. There are between four and ten million Nigerians who were peaceful, productive people, now ground down and given no chance to get back.”
He said the greatest tragedy of Nigeria’s conflict is the growing number of children raised in displacement camps who are being denied education and stability.
“I see children—multitudes of them—growing up believing that power comes from violence and that being peaceful is death. That’s a curse on this nation if there’s no intervention,” he warned.
“Our schools show that when displaced children get an education, they want to rebuild, not fight. That’s how this is ultimately fixed. When the internally displaced are recognised and restored, it will be the foundation of a great nation. Until then, I fear for this nation.”
Arnold, who builds and runs schools in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Abuja, said the mission’s goal is to collect first-hand facts and present them to U.S. policymakers to correct the false narrative of religious genocide.
“I’m meeting with a number of leaders and asking tough questions,” he said. “I’ve been to Jos, Bokos, Gwoza, and all over the south and central parts of the country. We already have two schools up and running in IDP camps and a third under construction, teaching 550 students full-time.”
The mayor, who described Nigeria as a resource-rich nation, said it was concerning that the country still depended on foreign aid to care for its displaced citizens.
“I don’t understand why a nation as mineral-rich and growing as Nigeria has to go and beg Uncle Sam for help serving its own people,” he said. “Nigerians have plenty of resources to help these people get stability and a life. Their homes are bulldozed, they’re called vagrants—it’s a horrific life. You don’t want America to dictate your affairs but you want their money; that doesn’t make sense to me.”
Arnold also criticised former US President Barack Obama’s foreign policy, alleging that the 2011 intervention in Libya worsened insecurity across the Sahel and contributed to Nigeria’s ongoing insurgency.
“It was not just Libya, but Obama’s Arab Spring foreign policy,” he said. “I believe he endeavoured to facilitate a takeover here in Nigeria. We have proof that Obama was behind the advance of Boko Haram—intentionally so. Obama holds a lot of the blame.”
The fact-finding delegation, organised by Nigerian author and political commentator Reno Omokri, also includes American filmmaker Jeff Gibbs, who said their work seeks to highlight the shared suffering of Christian and Muslim victims.
“In one camp we have predominantly Christian students; in another, mostly Muslim students,” Gibbs said. “What unites them is hope. I would like to see these camps eradicated — not by neglect but by restoring their people to dignity,”he said.
Boluwatife Enome
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