For months now, a strange accusation has been circulating online:
that the global conversation about Christian genocide in Nigeria from Donald Trump’s comments to US congressional discussions is somehow being “sponsored by Igbos or Biafrans.”

This accusation is not only factually false, it is historically illiterate, politically convenient, and deeply dishonest.

In reality:

• It was Northern and South-West opposition politicians who first amplified Christian killings to the world.
• It was Middle Belt and Benue diaspora groups who petitioned the US government.
• It was international Christian watchdogs (Open Doors, ICC, USCIRF) who declared Nigeria one of the most dangerous places to be a Christian.
• It was American evangelical organizations and right-wing politicians who gave the message global power.

Igbo people did not create this narrative.
They did not start it. They do not control it. They simply exist in a country where anything negative must eventually be blamed on them.

This article lays out the facts, the history, the documented killings, and the irony behind these accusations.

1. Before Anyone Blamed Igbos, Tinubu Himself Was Warning the World About “Slaughtered Christians”

On January 29, 2014, Bola Ahmed Tinubu tweeted:

“The slaughtering of Christian worshippers is strongly condemnable. It calls to question the competence of Jonathan to protect Nigerians.”

This was during Goodluck Jonathan’s presidency, a Christian from the Niger Delta.

Tinubu and the then-opposition APC repeatedly framed Boko Haram massacres as:

• “Christian slaughter,”
• “Religious cleansing,” and
• “Attacks on Christian worshippers.”

Why?

Because the narrative benefited their politics.
They wanted to unseat Jonathan, and painting him as a weak Christian president unable to protect Christians was a strategic political weapon.

Even more ironic:

APC leaders travelled to the United States during this period, They held high-profile meetings with US lawmakers and officials, They aggressively framed Nigeria’s insecurity as a religious crisis to delegitimize the PDP government.

This happened years before any Biafran agitation had social media influence.

So the question becomes:

If Tinubu and APC amplified the same narrative in 2014, why is it suddenly “Igbo propaganda” in 2025?

The region suffering the highest number of Christian deaths is not Igbo land,
but Benue, Plateau, Southern Kaduna, Taraba and parts of Nasarawa.

Over and over again:

• Tiv communities
• Idoma communities
• Berom communities
• Jukun and Mambilla communities

have petitioned the UN, US Congress, US State Department, and global Christian organizations.

In fact, just recently, Benue diaspora groups in the United States submitted formal petitions asking the US government to intervene or at least acknowledge the mass killings in their state.

A viral video from a Benue man living in America explained clearly: lindaikejiblog

“It was the Benue community in the US that submitted the petition. We wanted the world to know what’s happening to our people.”

So again:

if the victims themselves are speaking…

If their diaspora is writing petitions…

If their governors, bishops, and rights groups are crying out…

Why are Igbo people being blamed?

International Christian NGOs Have Been Warning About Nigeria Since 2010, Not Because of Igbo People

Groups like:

Open Doors (World Watch List)

International Christian Concern (ICC)

USCIRF

Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART)

Release International

have for over a decade described Nigeria as:

“the most dangerous country for Christians,”

“a hotspot for religiously-motivated killings,”

“a silent, slow-motion genocide.”

These are Western organizations with:

Western funding

Western researchers

Western political agendas

Their reports predate:

IPOB’s online activism

Biafra Twitter

Even widespread Nigerian Twitter use

So how exactly did Igbo people “sponsor” or “create” these narratives?

The US Government & Evangelicals Have Their Own Interests, Not an Igbo Agenda

Donald Trump’s recent statement warning the Nigerian government and speaking of “Christian genocide” was not inspired by “Igbo narratives.”

He was responding to:

• American evangelical pressure
• Conservative Christian voting blocs
• USCIRF recommendations
• Western human rights reports
• Years of documented massacres in Plateau, Benue, Kaduna, etc.

American politicians do not need Igbos to tell them anything.
They have their own geopolitical interests.

It is delusional to think Igbo people control:

• American foreign policy
• USCIRF
• Open Doors
• The US State Department
• Trump’s campaign rhetoric

The accusation is not just false, it is embarrassingly unserious.

Why Some Nigerians Still Blame Igbos: The Psychology of a Convenient Enemy

There are three major reasons:

A. Igbo people are the easiest political scapegoat in Nigeria

Whenever something embarrassing hits the international stage —

from #EndSARS to human rights reports —

the instinct is:

“Blame the Igbo.”

B. Igbo online visibility is mistaken for Igbo control

Igbos are loud online, They are majority Christian and They share Christian-related violence.

So some people confuse amplification with authorship. It’s like saying Arewa youths “created” the Israel–Palestine conflict because they tweet about Gaza.

C. It is easier to accuse Igbo people than to confront the failures of the Nigerian state

Blaming Igbo “propaganda” is a distraction from:

• government incompetence
• security failure
• systemic impunity
• the farmer-herder crisis
• radical violent groups operating unchecked
• decades of unaddressed grievances in the Middle Belt

This is why the accusation feels so forced, it is a psychological escape hatch.

The Hard Truth: There Is Systematic Killing of Christians in Parts of Nigeria

Regardless of political interpretations, the documented facts are undeniable:

A. Boko Haram & ISWAP have explicitly targeted Christians

With ideological intent.

B. Middle Belt Christian farming communities face mass, repeated attacks

Benue, Plateau, Southern Kaduna

entire communities wiped out, sometimes in one night.

C. Many attacks target:

churches

clergy

worshippers

Christian villages

IDP camps with predominantly Christian populations

D. Open Doors reports thousands of Christian deaths yearly

Calling Nigeria “the global epicenter of Christian persecution.”

E. USCIRF recommends listing Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern”

A designation usually reserved for nations with systematic religious persecution.

F. Survivors’ testimonies confirm targeted religious identity killings

The debate is not about whether Christians are being killed,

that is an established fact.

The debate is about whether the violence meets the strict legal definition of genocide.

Regardless of technical definitions, the lived reality is horrific.

It is not an Igbo creation.

It is not a Biafran conspiracy.

It is a national crisis.

So Why Blame Igbos for a Crisis They Neither Created Nor Benefit From?

Because Nigeria has a long tradition of:

• ethnic suspicion
• political scapegoating
• turning internal failures outward
• avoiding accountability
• demonizing groups who refuse to conform

Igbos merely exist in a country where truth becomes “propaganda” the moment it embarrasses power.

But history must be clear:

• Igbos did not start the Christian genocide narrative
• They did not internationalize it
• They do not control global Christian advocacy
• They are not behind Trump’s comments
• They are not the reason for US interest
• They are not the architects of international reports
• They are not the authors of Benue, Plateau or Kaduna tragedies

The accusation is a politically motivated lie.

Nigeria’s Christian killing crisis is real, documented, and long-standing.

The world knows this not because of Igbo activism,
but because:

• victims have spoken
• Middle Belt diaspora petitioned
• international NGOs documented
• American evangelicals amplified
• US policy circles investigated
• opposition politicians weaponized the narrative in 2014
• and massacres keep happening in broad daylight

Blaming the Igbo is not just inaccurate —
it is insulting to the victims whose blood is on the ground.

Nigeria cannot solve a crisis it refuses to name honestly.

And it certainly cannot solve it by lying about who exposed it.