Genocide claims: Trump’s CPC decision on Nigeria based on jaundiced, obtrusive data – IMPI

Trump and Tinubu

‎By JAMIU JAMODU

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‎A think tank group, the Independent Media and Policy Initiative (IMPI) has said the US President Donald Trump redesignated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) on the basis of jaundiced, obtrusive data provided by local and international groups with ulterior motives.

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‎In a policy statement signed by its Chairman, Dr Omoniyi Akinsiju, the think tank identified Intersociety, a local NGO, and Open Doors, a Christian charity, as two of the entities that have been spawning false data to misrepresent the security situation in Nigeria.

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‎IMPI expressed concern at the manner groups with vested interests are manipulating terrorism-related data to paint Nigeria as a country where Christians are facing existential threats.

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‎”We are concerned about the inauspicious propagation of terrorism-related deaths in 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 is deserving of being 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.

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‎”The circulation of falsehoods in the campaign to designate Nigeria a CPC jurisdiction has become a worrisome trend. Our findings showed that it became a tool exploited by both Nigerian and foreign-based NGOs, as well as other vested interests, to drive their demands.

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‎“Long before this official response, merchants of tainted data had populated the social media space with obtrusive figures. The International Society for the 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 reported 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 did not portray the reality on the ground,” it added.