A policy advocacy group, the Independent Media and Policy Initiative (IMPI), has urged the United States to verify all data and reports before designating Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC).
It noted that the recent decision by President Donald Trump was based on biased and misleading information from local and international groups with ulterior motives.
In a statement signed by its Chairman, Dr Omoniyi Akinsiju, the group condemned some NGOs for generating false data to misrepresent the security situation in Nigeria.
IMPI expressed concern over the manner in which groups with vested interests were manipulating terrorism-related data to portray Nigeria as a country where Christians faced existential threats.
“We are concerned about the inauspicious propagation of terrorism-related deaths as a singular religious conflict situation.
“However, for starters, we must acknowledge the sensitivity of this subject matter as it affects lives. For us, no single life deserves to be extinguished for any reason. In the same vein, it is immoral to concoct all manner of death-related data to justify a point of view.
“The circulation of falsehoods in the campaign to designate Nigeria as a CPC jurisdiction has become a worrisome trend. Our findings show that it has become a tool exploited by both Nigerian and foreign-based NGOs, as well as other vested interests, to drive their demands.
“Long before this official response, merchants of tainted data had populated the social media space with misleading figures.
“The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) reported that 5,068 Christians were massacred in Nigeria in 2022, while Open Doors’ 2023 World Watch List claimed that 5,014 Christians were killed for their faith in Nigeria in 2022, more than in the rest of the world combined. Those figures definitely do not reflect the reality on the ground,” it added.
IMPI further argued that its findings indicated that the total number of terrorism-related fatalities in Nigeria was not as high as the figures provided by some groups.
It said that a better understanding of the situation in Nigeria, through government-to-government engagement, would lead to the US withdrawing Nigeria from its CPC list.
