A Nigerian presidential candidate has pledged to protect Christians and other religious communities from persecution if elected in 2027, acknowledging that believers in the country's north and central regions face violence.

Dr Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, the Accord Party’s presidential candidate, made the pledge in a policy brief sent to the US Congress and the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) ahead of a US House hearing on Nigeria.

He acknowledged that Christians in northern and central Nigeria face persecution. “Churches have been burned, villages destroyed, and pastors killed. This is real,” he said.  But he warned that presenting the crisis purely as Christians against Muslims is divisive, noting that Shia Muslims, minority sects and Hausa Muslim communities also face persecution.

He called religious freedom a national security issue and argued that when attackers go unpunished, militias form and extremists recruit from them.

If elected, he said he would introduce a National Policy Framework on Religious Freedom for Conflict Prevention and Countering Violent Extremism. He said he's also hold a national summit within 90 days, including the Christian Association of Nigeria and the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs.

Hashim also proposed a National Guard to protect villages, farms, schools and places of worship, and a rebuilding programme for communities destroyed by attacks.

The candidate has also asked the United States to help convene an international security conference on Nigeria and the Sahel within 100 days

Christian persecution charity Open Doors’ says in 2026 3,490 of the 4,849 Christians killed for their faith worldwide were in Nigeria. The country ranks seventh on its World Watchlist though it says it would be first if the ranking were based on violence alone.

Nigeria’s electoral commission has set the presidential and National Assembly elections for 16 January 2027.