Key Points
- Ted Cruz backs sanctions over deadly attacks on Nigerian Christians. Fani-Kayode says the figures and tone paint a false picture.
- The US senator cites a new bill on religious freedom in Nigeria. The nominee says the plan hides a deeper political aim.
- Fani-Kayode welcomes concern for Christians in Nigeria in his reply. He still accuses Cruz of deceit and a hidden dark agenda.
Femi Fani-Kayode, a Nigerian ambassadorial nominee and former aviation minister, has sharply criticised United States Senator Ted Cruz after the lawmaker renewed claims of mass killings of Christians in Nigeria.
The clash played out on X, where both men shared strong views on faith-driven attacks and possible American sanctions on Nigerian officials.
Cruz had posted a clip and message claiming that more than 50,000 Christians had been killed in Nigeria and over 20,000 churches and schools burned in recent years.
He thanked former US President Donald Trump for placing Nigeria on a special watch list and urged Congress to pass his “Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act of 2025” to stop the violence, building on earlier moves reported in a recent Ted Cruz sharia bill story.
What Ted Cruz said about Nigeria
In the fresh clip, the Texas senator repeated long-standing concerns in Washington about deadly attacks on worshippers in parts of Nigeria.
He argued that Nigerian Christians face extreme danger from jihadist groups and armed gangs and insisted US leaders must respond with firm steps.
Cruz’s proposed bill seeks to single out officials found to help or ignore such attacks and restrict their travel or assets under US law.
The measure also pushes America to again list Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” on religious freedom, a tag that can affect security aid and trade ties.
His comments come as some US lawmakers and rights groups press for tougher action over alleged bias against Christians in Nigeria. Others, including Nigerian officials, insist the violence cuts across faith lines and is driven by terrorism, crime and local land clashes rather than a state-backed plan against any group, an argument that surfaced when media aide Bayo Onanuga pushed back in an earlier Onanuga slams Cruz article.
Fani-Kayode’s sharp reply on X
Responding on his verified X handle, Fani-Kayode said he did not trust the senator’s sudden show of concern for Nigerian Christians.
“I applaud your professed love for our Christian group in my country but I do not believe that it is genuine or that your motives are wholesome,” he wrote in part.
He went on to label Cruz’s claims “steeped in ignorance, mendacity, perfidy and deceit” and accused him of playing a double game.
Fani-Kayode described the US politician as “a master of double speak with a hidden and malevolent agenda,” suggesting the push for sanctions is driven by wider political aims rather than care for lives.
The former minister has taken similar positions in longer essays, where he argues that both Christians and Muslims suffer from terror attacks in Nigeria.
He says foreign leaders risk deepening divisions when they frame the crisis as a one-sided war on Christians instead of a broader security breakdown.
Wider battle over faith, security and foreign pressure
Nigeria has faced heavy foreign scrutiny over repeated attacks on churches, mosques and rural towns, especially in the north.
While watchdog groups have documented serious violence, Nigerian officials say the term “genocide” does not match the complex mix of terrorism, banditry and local clashes on the ground, a theme that also appeared when Trump’s threat over Christian deaths made news in a recent Trump warning on Christian killings.
Fani-Kayode and other government allies argue that Washington’s focus on Christian victims alone ignores Muslim deaths and feeds a wrong story about the country.
They warn that sweeping US sanctions based on that story could hurt security ties and the wider economy without fixing the root causes of violence.
The United States has used travel bans and aid cuts in other cases to push foreign leaders over human rights and security lapses.
The clash between Cruz and Fani-Kayode now shows how faith, rights and foreign policy mix in the debate on Nigeria’s security battles, with both sides claiming to defend lives while trading sharp blows online
