First, we do not know why the Presidency has remained silent, if it has. However, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, has publicly addressed the matter. At a press conference on 5 November 2025, he stated that Nigeria is “open and willing to work closely with the Government of the United States and others to eliminate terrorism on Nigerian soil” (Vanguard News).

He further emphasised that Nigeria’s security challenges affect both Christians and Muslims, reaffirming the administration’s “political will” under President Bola Tinubu and describing claims of a deliberate genocide against Christians as “misperception and misrepresentation.”

Similarly, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, has made statements consistent with this position. He rejected claims of an “ongoing slaughter of thousands of Christians in Nigeria” as a “gross exaggeration” and added that “Muslim lives matter too”.

We cannot afford to speculate or second-guess what might be happening behind closed doors, but these statements indicate that the government has sought to project a united stance on Nigeria’s security narrative and international perception.

We can get the Nigerian Government to properly engage all terror groups by advocating for a coordinated national peace and security strategy that combines dialogue, rehabilitation, and enforcement. Civil society and international partners should press for transparent frameworks, regular progress reports, and independent monitoring to ensure genuine engagement and measurable results.

In urgent security matters, time is critical. There is no “ideal timeline” as every crisis is different.  Escalating matters externally may indicate that efforts to get the attention of the government may have failed.  Advocacy for the killing of Christians has been on for years. It has taken a keen interest by the Americans to cause a global discuss on the matter.  The goal is not to embarrass the government but to save lives. And to save lives, prompt action is essential.

Appearance of indifference may not mean that the government is, in fact, indifferent. The government’s seeming indifference often reflects a mixture of several factors: weak accountability, political distractions, and poor coordination within security agencies. Unfortunately, while the government dilly-dally, the perpetrators become more emboldened and more people die. Over time, repeated violence has become tragically normalised, reducing the sense of urgency among decision-makers. Without strong public pressure and consistent accountability, most government go to sleep on urgent and important matters; and they tend to respond only when global or media attention forces their hand.

We hope not. We are involved in this because we believe that we are better and stronger together as one indivisible nation. However, continued injustice, insecurity, and poor leadership could push the nation toward deeper division. What will determine the future is whether leaders choose reform, inclusion, and accountability over denial and silence. Many Nigerians still desire unity — but it must be a unity built on justice and fairness.

Our message to the Federal Government should be clear:  First, do whatever any sane government will do to stop the killings by every means possible. Address the drivers and other root causes, not just the symptoms. Extreme (foreign) religious ideologies. Religious and ethnic discrimination, poverty, and terrorism. Poverty creates fertile ground for extremist recruitment; persecution deepens division; terrorism thrives where justice is weak. The focus should therefore be on strengthening governance, ensuring equal protection for all citizens, and investing in communities to restore hope and security.

First, the failure of security is everywhere, not just in parts of the North. The only difference is that it manifests more intensely in the three northern regions, including the Middle Belt, where Christians are mostly concentrated. As for legal action, yes, it is possible to challenge the Federal Government for failing to protect lives in any part of the nation, not just in the regions mentioned. Such action can be filed under the Fundamental Rights Enforcement Rules for violating the right to life and security guaranteed by the Constitution (Sections 14 and 33). If domestic remedies fail, cases can also be taken to the ECOWAS Court or the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights

Putting measurement figures like 95% should not be our priority. When a government is seriously engaged in insecurity, the positive effect is rapid. There are several things that the Federal Government can do immediately that will show immediate results: disarming and prosecuting armed groups; prioritising intelligence-led security operations, community-based policing, depopulation of IDP camps and assisting the occupants to return to their ancestral lands and communities. More effective border control to stop small arms flow. Strengthening governance, justice, and local reconciliation efforts are also vital to stop or drastically reduce killings within a short period

Both capacity limits and political/operational failures matter. International reports document: (a) serious gaps in security capacity and governance in vast rural areas, (b) uneven law enforcement and prosecution (impunity), and (c) political/coordination problems that frustrate responses — which together make it hard to fully eliminate violent non-state actors. Observers therefore describe a mixture of constrained ability (resource, logistics, governance) and inconsistent political will/priority at different levels.