The Director-General of the National Orientation Agency, Lanre Issa-Onilu, has dismissed Donald Trump’s genocide claim. He linked the allegation to faulty U.S. intelligence.
He spoke in Abuja during the monthly National Joint Security Press Briefing, on Monday, the 3rd of November, 2025, stressing that America has made similar errors in the past.
According to him: “An allegation of genocide against Christians in Nigeria by the President of the United States of America is not true. This is not the first time that the intelligence of the United States failed Americans. It failed in Iraq, it turned out that there was no weapon of mass destruction and they apologised, it failed them in Libya, I think this is another error in intelligence gathering.”
Issa-Onilu admitted that Nigeria faces security problems, but he insisted that no group is being singled out.
In his words: “Beyond that, we know that there are issues of insecurity in Nigeria and there are killings. However, the killings are not targeted at any religion and the government and security agencies are working round the clock to nip it in the bud.”
He noted that America recently recognised Nigeria’s progress in counter-terrorism.
He pointed to arrests of top terror suspects and the removal of Nigeria from the NFIU “grey list” as evidence, saying the country has improved in tracking illegal financial flows.
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He argued that recent high-level changes among security chiefs show that the government is responding with tough measures to improve safety nationwide.
He explained: “A country that is not working seriously on the issue of security will not take such drastic steps as the President just took last week, changing the top echelons of the military to ensure that the system is rejigged and empowered to do more
“The same United States of America lifted the sanctions on the sale of arms to Nigeria. They are only to those countries that they believe are using the weapons responsibly,” he said.