Lord Alton has said Politicians "need to be more honest" about what is driving the "carnage" against Christians in Nigeria,

The Christian Crossbench peer has been critical of political leaders in the wake of the Pentecost Sunday attack on a Nigerian church in which 50 people were killed.

On his website, Lord Alton wrote that it was wrong of politicians to blame the violence on climate change and a fight over natural resources.

Instead, he said they need to recognise the jihadist ideology fuelling the violence against Christians and other minorities in Nigeria.

Lord Alton wrote: “ It’s high time the world woke up to the unpalatable truth that the same malign force that has murdered and maimed it’s way through community after community continues to brutally murder Nigerian people and has been able to do so with impunity.”

“It is striking how quickly politicians and commentators trot out the same discredited banal narrative that the drivers for such carnage are climate change and lack of resources.

“They say that the causes are “complicated”, with hardly a mention of the Jihadist ideology that is behind the endless atrocities of ISIS and Boko Haram.

“And then they say that everyone suffers and there is a sort of equivalence with victims coming from varied religious backgrounds.”

Nigeria have seen a huge increase in killings including the murder of student Deborah Yakubu on the 12th of May this year, sparking worldwide outrage.