The presidency, yesterday, made public an abridged update on the country’s counter-terrorism operations, detailing arrests, convictions, and significant declines in terror-related deaths since 2023.

The update, posted on its verified X handle, @NGRPresident, came in the wake of renewed diplomatic tension following genocide allegations by the United States President, Donald Trump, against Christians in Nigeria, and designation of Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC).

The US had also threatened sanctions and hinted at possible military action.

The update came as Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) denounced the designation of Nigeria as a country of particular concern and the allegation of genocide against Christian faithful by the US president as a covet plan by the American government to destabilize Nigeria.

Similarly, Muslim Ummah, Bauchi State Chapter, and the leadership of Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN) condemned Trump’s proposal labelling Hamas as a terrorist organization, calling it unjust and counterproductive to the resolution of the Palestinian conflict.

The Nigeria government repeatedly rejected the genocide allegation, insisting the country faces a complex, decade-long security challenge driven by terrorism, banditry, and communal violence, not religious persecution.

The government maintained that the security crisis had claimed lives across all faiths and regions, and continued to appeal to global partners, including the US, for support in its ongoing operations aimed at defeating the debilitating challenge.

In the update, the presidency reaffirmed President Bola Tinubu’s stance that “the security of Nigeria is non-negotiable”, stressing that enhanced inter-agency cooperation has led to stringent action against terrorists and insurgents since 2023.

In the figures released, it claimed security agencies had “vigorously pursued, arrested, eliminated or successfully convicted” extremists linked to some of the country’s deadliest attacks.

The update disclosed that since 2024, over 124 terrorists and insurgents had been convicted by Nigerian courts, while several high-profile suspects, including leaders of Ansaru, those implicated in the 2022 Owo Church massacre, and those involved in the Yelwata reprisal killings in Benue, were undergoing trial.

The federal government also highlighted a suite of counterterrorism measures, including strengthened joint security task forces, enhanced border patrols with regional allies, permanent joint operations in vulnerable corridors, increased compensation for victims of attacks, and deeper intelligence collaboration with international partners.

Quoting measurable results, the presidency reported that as of 2025, terror-related deaths in Nigeria had declined by 81 per cent compared to 2015, attributing the improvement to intensified counter-insurgency operations and stronger engagement with affected communities.

It also revealed that over 13,000 terrorists were neutralized in the past year alone, while more than 124,000 fighters and their dependents surrendered to the authorities.

The presidential post added that more than 2.1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) had returned to their communities, with many areas experiencing reconstruction and renewed stability.

Government said it further instituted a Resettlement Scheme for Persons Impacted by Conflict to facilitate rehabilitation, rebuild destroyed settlements, and support reintegration efforts.

However, the presidency continued to call for international partnership, insisting that global support remains crucial in dismantling terror networks operating across borders.

NSCIA: Alleged Christian Genocide US Pretext to Destabilize Nigeria

Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) denounced the designation of Nigeria as a country of particular concern and the allegation of genocide against Christians, saying they represent a covet plan by the American government to destabilize Nigeria. Secretary General of NSCIA, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, affirmed this position yesterday at a press briefing to address allegations by Trump of ongoing genocide against Christians as well as the threat to authorize the US to attack Nigeria if no solid action was taken to stem the act.

Oloyede stated that Nigeria faced a complex and tragic perennial security crisis that was inflicting immeasurable pain to all its citizens, regardless of faith or ethnic persuasion.

He said many parts of the country were being subjected to gruesome savagery against Muslims and Christians, Imams and priests, stressing that this position has been reinforced by the Amnesty International, which after methodically investigating the insecurity in the country, stated that there was “no evidence of a religious motivation” to characterize it as genocide.

Oloyede stated, “The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), following its Expanded General Purpose Committee (EGPC) meeting held earlier today, convenes this conference on behalf of the Nigerian Muslim Ummah to condemn the recent threat against the sovereignty of our nation.

“We have not been emphasising the killings of Muslims because we do not see it as a religious war, but a national security issue. The world is aware that some Islamophobic and unpatriotic Nigerians had authored a dangerous script, promoted it in Western circles, especially in the United States, and got the attention of the highest levels of the United States government, which are erroneously made to believe that there is a ‘Christian genocide’ in Nigeria.

“When the U.S. President, Mr. Donald Trump labelled our country ‘disgraced’, every right-thinking Nigerian was concerned because an ally that is determined to help a sovereign country to ‘completely wipe out the Islamic terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities’ would offer to assist and collaborate with the country and not use such language to describe a country it aims to partner in wiping out the terrorists.

“While a number of countries (e.g., China, Saudi Arabia, Myanmar) have also been designated ‘Countries of Particular Concern’, the present context of ‘what Nigeria will not like’ suggests that the plan is a pretext to destabilize our country/

“It reinforced that Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) report of 2022 that conclusively stated that the overwhelming driver of violence in Nigeria was not anti-Christian persecution, as Muslims and people of other faiths were also overwhelmingly affected.”

NSCIA insisted that there was no “Christian genocide” in Nigeria. It stated that the allegation, under Article II of the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide 9 and Article 6 of the Rome Statute 11, was a crime with specific “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.

The council said Islamist Jihadists-ISWAP and Boko Haram considered Muslims who did not embrace their doctrine as “dissidents and were killing both Muslims and Christians and demolishing Mosques and Churches”.

NSCIA accused the United States of creating Al-Qaeda, which is being projected as Islamic, while also reinforcing the allegation by a US Congressman, Scott Perry, who testified that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was financing the activities of Boko Haram and other terrorist groups in Nigeria and elsewhere.

It contended that the real driver of violence in Nigeria was ecological, caused by relentless desertification and climate change, which degraded pastures and dried up water sources in the far-northern Sahelian belt.

Oloyede said, “This is not an ‘Islamist invasion’; it is a desperate southward migration of herders seeking survival. This climate-driven migration forces herders into direct, and often violent competition, with sedentary farming communities over dwindling resources of land and water.

“Historic grazing reserves have been lost to expanding settlements, and traditional conflict resolution mechanisms have eroded. This is the flashpoint for the farmer-herder crisis in Plateau, Benue and other middle belt states in Northern Nigeria.

“The second driver is criminality. In the North-west, North-east and South-east, banditry is fuelled by the overlapping factors of grinding poverty, mass youth unemployment, drug abuse, porous borders and the proliferation of small arms and light weapons over the decades. Crucially, as researchers have noted, it is also driven by illicit artisanal mining of solid minerals.

“Criminal syndicates and bandits sack villages and displace populations, creating an ungoverned space for their illegal mining operations. This is a violent, organized crime racket for resources and there is nothing Islamic about it also. In Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto axis, Muslims have lost more than 1,200 souls to the same bandits who answer to crime, not tribe or faith.”

NSCIA stated, “The United States Department itself, in its 2022 Report on International Religious Freedom, stated that ‘banditry and other criminality, not animosity between particular religious groups… were the primary drivers’ of intercommunal violence. This is not a religious war.

“Then, we cannot gloss over how, over a long period, failure of governance has enabled violence in Nigeria. Studies have revealed how endemic corruption, lack of accountability for human rights abuses and failure to provide basic security for citizens have, over time, created a vacuum for impunity.

“When the state fails to protect anyone, criminals and militias thrive. This is a ‘massive state failure’, as some have called it, not a state-sponsored ‘genocide’”

The council accused foreign instigators, especially some American politicians, including Senator Ted Cruz and Congressman Riley Moore, of spreading the false narrative of mass murder of 50,000-100,000 Christians in Nigeria to energize their domestic evangelical base and garner votes in Texas and West Virginia.

NSCIA said the foreign actors were aided and abetted by domestic instigators, particularly separatist groups, like Biafra Republic Government In-Exile, which it alleged was hatching political/economic, but not religious, agenda by outspending the federal government on lobbyists, as revealed by regulatory filings in Washington, D.C.

NSCIA said, “And what is their core message? The filings show they are focused on raising the issue of ‘Christian killings’ on Capitol Hill. This is a political separatist group, weaponizing a religious identity to achieve its goal: the balkanization and fragmentation of Nigeria.

“These lobbyists who received millions of dollars flood Washington with doctored videos and fake statistics. They quote 52,000 Christians killed since 2009, a number even Open Doors refuses to endorse.

“There is also, as we have previously stated, a network of Nigerian citizens at home and abroad who have found a big business in self-flagellation. These crisis entrepreneurs exploit transactions in religious antipathy as easy pathways to global recognition and fame.

“They fabricate or decontextualize claims of persecution to gain speaking tours, material gains, or preferential asylum status in the West. The media is awash with evidence of some religious leaders and elite who originated the false claim for non-religious purposes. Some of them ignite and pretend to, at the same time, extinguish fire. We condemn these individuals engaging in falsehood and acts that verge on treason.

“This is why the council is extremely disappointed by the false proclamation of the CAN President, which has now shown clearly that the individuals who were propagating the falsehood were, in reality, playing the scripts of CAN.”

Muslim Ummah Backs Nigeria’s Stand On Palestinian Crisis, Condemns Trump’s Hamas Policy

The Muslim Ummah, Bauchi State Chapter, and the leadership of Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN) condemned Trump’s labelling of Hamas as a terrorist organization, calling it unjust and counterproductive to peace in the Palestinian conflict.

They, however, expressed support for the federal government’s advocacy for justice for Palestinians, calling for an unconditional ceasefire and the withdrawal of Zionist forces from Gaza.

The call came in a communiqué issued at the end of a leadership training workshop organized by the National Islamic Centre, Zaria.

The meeting of the leadership of MSSN, Bauchi Area Unit, was held at Sultan Muhammad Saad Abubakar Hajj Camp, Bauchi, at the weekend.

The communiqué, signed by Professor Abdullahi Lare Amaoo, Chairman of the Communiqué Drafting Committee, also condemned the incessant banditry and kidnappings, and urged security agencies and stakeholders to intensify efforts in combating these threats.

It expressed deep worry over the endemic corruption pervading all levels of society, and called for urgent and collective action to save the nation from potential collapse.

The Muslim Ummah emphasized that piety (Taqwa) was an essential leadership attribute that must be cultivated for national survival and prosperity.

The communiqué also highlighted the pervasive poverty and deprivation affecting the country, stressing the urgent need for concrete measures to alleviate the situation.

Addressing security concerns, the Ummah condemned the incessant banditry and kidnappings and urged security agencies and stakeholders to intensify efforts in combating these threats.

They expressed support for the federal government’s advocacy for justice for Palestinians, calling for an unconditional ceasefire and the withdrawal of Zionist forces from Gaza.

Professor Muhammad Babangida Muhammad, National Ameer, outlined the purpose of the Muslim Ummah, emphasizing its role in ensuring spiritual, physical, socio-economic, and moral upliftment for the people.

Dr. Usman Bugaje highlighted the importance of addressing the leadership crisis within the Ummah for stability and healthy growth, stressing the need to balance challenges with the competencies required for effective management.

The workshop also featured the formation of area branches, inauguration of their leadership across 20 local government areas, and elections for new leadership at the state level. (THISDAY)