Nigeria’s Senate Accuses IPOB of Fabricating Christian Genocide Claims to Incite U.S. Intervention

Nigeria’s Senate Accuses IPOB of Fabricating Christian Genocide Claims to Incite U.S. Intervention The Nigerian government's recent accu...

Nigeria’s Senate Accuses IPOB of Fabricating Christian Genocide Claims to Incite U.S. Intervention

The Nigerian government's recent accusation that the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is orchestrating a campaign to fuel U.S. narratives of a "Christian genocide" is a shameless attempt to deflect from its failure to protect its citizens. Senate President Godswill Akpabio's claims, supported by bias state media, paint IPOB a movement as a manipulative force peddling disinformation to provoke Western intervention. This is not only a baseless smear but an insult to the thousands of Christian families mourning loved ones lost to unrelenting violence in Nigeria's Middle Belt, northern regions, and beyond. Family Writers Press International (FWPI) condemns this dangerous narrative and calls for accountability, transparency, and international scrutiny of Nigeria’s complicity in the bloodshed.

The Nigerian government’s accusation is a textbook tactic to shift blame. By pointing fingers at IPOB, a group advocating for Biafran self-determination, Nigerian government seek to discredit legitimate concerns about targeted attacks on Christians. Even before the formation of IPOB in 2012 Christians have faced serious religious persecution in the north. Since 2009, over 62,000 Christians have been killed by Boko Haram, Fulani militias, and other armed groups, according to credible reports like Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List. In the past year alone, 3,100 faith motivated deaths were recorded, with 18,000 churches burned since the onset of these crises. These are not fabrications but documented tragedies massacres in Benue, Plateau, and Taraba, where Christian farmers are slaughtered by Islamic extremists often described as Fulani speaking and wearing military style uniforms.

Akpabio’s claim that IPOB is orchestrating a U.S. centric narrative ignores the reality: the Christian Igbo of the southeast, whom IPOB represents, are themselves victims of Nigeria’s security failures. The Easter 2024 massacre in Benue, which claimed 39 lives, and similar atrocities are not IPOB inventions but grim realities corroborated by survivors and local clergy. To accuse a Christian majority group of fabricating anti-Christian violence is absurd and reveals Nigeria’s desperation to silence the ongoing Christian persecution in Nigeria.

But the numbers don’t lie. Independent reports, including those from Al Jazeera and Premium Times, confirm thousands of deaths annually, with Christians disproportionately targeted in jihadist raids. While Nigeria insists violence is driven by banditry or farmer-herder clashes affecting all groups, it cannot erase accounts of churches razed, priests kidnapped, and villages wiped out by Islamic extremists. IPOB’s advocacy is not a conspiracy but a cry for justice amplifying voices Nigeria seeks to mute.

FWPI rejects Nigeria’s narrative that IPOB is the problem. The real issue is the government’s failure to address jihadist threats and its troubling links to perpetrators. Eyewitnesses in Benue and Plateau have reported attackers in military fatigues, raising questions about state complicity. Nigeria’s history dating back to the 1967-1970 Biafran War, where over a million Igbo Christians were murdered shows a pattern of marginalizing the southeast while deflecting blame. IPOB’s push for a peaceful referendum reflects the frustration of a people abandoned by a state unable to guarantee their safety.

We call on the U.S. Congress, the United Nations, and the international community to:

Investigate Nigeria’s security forces for potential collusion in attacks on Christian communities.

Demand transparency on the government’s efforts to curb Boko Haram and Fulani militia violence.

Support IPOB’s right to advocate for self-determination without being branded terrorists.

Family Writers Press International.