Misconceptions About Conflict in Nigeria

Nicki Minaj spoke at the United Nations Headquarters today, calling out what she perceives as “extremism” against Christians in Nigeria. “I would like to thank President Trump for prioritizing this issue and for his leadership on the global stage in calling for urgent action to defend Christians in Nigeria,” she said, also asserting in her four-minute speech that, ”Today, faith is under attack in way too many places in Nigeria. Christians are being targeted, driven from their homes, and killed. Churches have been burned, families have been torn apart, and entire communities live in fear constantly simply because of how they pray.” 

Before Minaj’s speech, UN Ambassador Mike Waltz echoed the notion of persecution against Christians before thanking Nicki for taking the UN podium to “demand action” for Christians. Minaj’s speech prefaced a panel discussion entitled “Combating Religious Violence and the Killing of Christians in Nigeria.” TIME reporter Eric Cortellessa previously broke news of the speech, revealing that President Donald Trump‘s adviser, Alex Bruesewitz, facilitated Minaj’s appearance. 

The speech comes weeks after she made an X post lauding a Trump Truth Social post that claimed that Christianity was under an “existential threat” in Nigeria. Elsewhere in November, she shared a pro-MAGA clip posted by the White House’s X account, which was soundtracked by her “Beez In the Trap” hit, as well as a xenophobic, transphobic video highlighting Trump’s accomplishments since beginning his second term, which resulted in her losing over 100,000 followers. 

Trump has asserted that Christians have been “persecuted” and murdered by “radical Islamists,” and has threatened to invade Nigeria “guns-a-blazing to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.” On September 11, Texas Senator Ted Cruz introduced a bill “against persecution of Nigerian Christians.” But the nonpartisan, US-based organization Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project and Council on Foreign Relations have repeatedly stated that the notion of Christians being disproportionately attacked is a dangerous reduction of the nature of violence in Nigeria that isn’t backed by data. Nigerian citizens support their sentiment. 

In an Al-Jazeera op-ed, Senior Special Assistant to the President of Nigeria, Gimba Kakanda, stated, “Every region of Nigeria has both Christians and Muslims living side by side, and conflicts typically unfold along community or regional lines rather than strictly religious ones.” Bulama Bukarti, a Nigerian conflict researcher and human rights lawyer, told ABC News that the violence is “indiscriminate” in a report where an Imam stated, “The kind of pain we’ve gone through for the past years — this issue affects both faiths.” Nigeria’s population of 220 million people is mostly split between Christians and Muslims. 

Still, Minaj, like Trump and his conservative comrades, is projecting a misconception that Christians in particular are being assailed in Nigeria. “This is about standing up in the face of injustice,” she said during her speech. “It’s about what I’ve always stood for my entire career, and I will continue to stand for that for the rest of my life. I will care if anyone anywhere is being persecuted for their beliefs.”