Christian leaders in Nigeria have rejected President Donald Trump's claim that US military action has "largely ended the slaughter" of Christians in the country.
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory described the remarks as misleading, saying Christians and other Nigerians continue to face deadly attacks and kidnappings.
Speaking at an event in Washington on 26th June, Trump said recent US military action had significantly reduced violence against Christians.
"As you know, we recently struck Nigeria and largely ended the slaughter of great Christian populations," he said.
"They have a great Christian population. They were being butchered, thousands and thousands of people were being killed, children, women, old people, just being slaughtered, hacked to death."
Trump added that US operations had weakened those responsible for the attacks.
"They know that if they go further, the attack will be far greater and that they don't want to really get involved anymore so much. We hit them very hard. We knocked out their leader. We knocked out their second leader and their third leader."
However, Joseph Hayab, chairman of CAN in the 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory, said the security situation remained grave and argued it was for victims, not politicians, to judge whether conditions had improved.
"The right people who should tell whether Trump has succeeded should be Nigerian Christians or Northern Christians, not Trump himself. But probably he is getting his information from the wrong source. I think some of his political claims are not good enough to resolve things," he said, as reported by The Tablet.
"Trump should allow the victims to make that confession, not him. The victims are the right people who can tell whether whatever he has done has yielded any success."
Hayab acknowledged recent US operations against terrorist groups but said they had not stopped the violence.
"The strategy Trump's America is adopting is not good enough because after the US forces struck in Sokoto last December, they went on a long recess. They came recently again and killed some ISIS commanders, but people are still being killed here every day," he said.
He urged the US administration to focus on practical support rather than what he described as political messaging.
"We want help, but the help shouldn't be propaganda. It should be genuine help, not propaganda or misinformation," Hayab said, adding that he thinks Trump should be "properly informed about what is happening rather than claiming what is not".
“We don’t know those who are advising or telling him stories that are not true," he said. "If they want to truly bring an end to the killing of innocent Nigerians, let them stop the propaganda or the media story and focus on the reality, because I’m not sure the victims would like this kind of claim."
