There was mild drama on Piers Morgan’s programme as Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, and former Canadian lawmaker Goldie Ghamari battled fiercely over allegations that Christians in Nigeria are being systematically persecuted.
The interview, which aired on Tuesday, featured Tuggar firmly disputing the figures cited by Morgan, who referenced statistics from the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, claiming over 50,000 Christians have been killed and 18,000 churches destroyed in Nigeria since 2009.
Tuggar dismissed the numbers as inaccurate, stressing that the Nigerian government does not classify fatalities by religion, insisting instead that victims are treated equally.
When Morgan demanded official figures, the minister stated that only 177 Christians had been killed and 102 churches attacked within the last five years.
Tensions heightened when Ghamari joined the discussion.
She argued that the violence in Nigeria amounted to Jihad and controversially tied it to the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.
“I don’t have to be familiar with the Constitution of Nigeria to know that when someone yells ‘Allahu Akbar’ before they massacre 200 Christians and burn Christian churches, that’s not just banditry. That’s jihad.
“By the way, this is a government that is working closely behind the scenes with the Islamic Republic of Iran. You should ask the foreign minister why Nigerian school children are holding pictures of the Ayatollah who is a brutal dictator and is murdering my people in Iran,” she claimed, insisting that “people need to look into the linkages between the current Nigerian government and the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Reacting, Tuggar fired back immediately and accused the former MP of reducing Nigerian lives to talking points and misunderstanding the nation’s political dynamics.
Addressing her comments about Tinubu and Shettima, he explained that Nigerians prioritise geographic balance, noting that the president is from the South while the vice-president is from the North.
When Morgan asked if he condemned attacks on Christians by Islamist extremists, Tuggar affirmed that he did and disclosed personal loss.
The PUNCH
