Pentecostal and Islamic leaders present sharply contrasting views on religious persecution and insecurity in Northern Nigeria.
A growing religious and diplomatic tension has emerged between the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) and the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) over claims of a “Christian genocide” in the country.
PFN President, Bishop Francis Oke, declared that there is an ongoing pattern of targeted attacks against Christians, citing killings in Benue, Plateau, and Southern Kaduna as examples.
“It would be a desecration to the blood of these Nigerians to call it any other name,” he said. “There is not a single instance of a Christian group attacking Muslims; it is always the other way round.”
However, NSCIA’s Secretary-General, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, dismissed the genocide claims as false and politically motivated, insisting that Nigeria’s crisis is rooted in national security failures, poverty, and criminal opportunism, not religion.
“This is not a religious war,” Oloyede said. “Portraying it as such is dangerous and undermines national unity.”
The clash underscores the deep sensitivities surrounding Nigeria’s security crisis and highlights how religion continues to shape national discourse and global perception of the country’s challenges.
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