Cynthia Ezegwu
A United States lawmaker, Riley Moore, has condemned the abduction of schoolgirls from Government Secondary School, Maga, in the Danko-Wasagu Local Government Area of Kebbi State, but his comments have sparked pushback from Nigerian stakeholders.
Moore, in a post on X on Tuesday, decried the attack and urged the public to pray for the victims. “Please join me in praying for the 25 girls who have been kidnapped and for the repose of the soul of their vice principal, who was killed,” he wrote.
He further stated that although full details were still emerging, the attack “occurred in a Christian enclave in Northern Nigeria,” a description that immediately triggered reactions online.
A former Senior Special Assistant on New Media to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, Bashir Ahmad, countered the US lawmaker’s claim, insisting that the community affected was not Christian.
“While appreciating your concern and praying for our sisters, it is important to correct a crucial detail here — the attack did not occur in a Christian enclave,” Ahmad wrote. “It happened within a Muslim community, and the victims themselves were Muslims.”
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Ahmad accused some American officials of misunderstanding Nigeria’s insecurity complexities or deliberately promoting narratives capable of deepening divisions. “This is precisely why we keep saying that even you, Americans, either do not understand the complexity of Nigeria’s insecurity challenges, or you are deliberately pushing unholy narratives that risk worsening our already fragile unity,” he added.
The debate comes amid renewed tensions between Nigerian and US officials over claims of “Christian genocide” in parts of the country — an assertion Nigerian authorities have repeatedly dismissed.
The attack, which occurred in the early hours of Monday, saw heavily armed bandits invade the school, killing the vice principal, injuring staff members, and abducting 25 students.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has expressed deep concern over the incident and pledged to ensure the safe return of the abducted girls, saying it “shares in the pain of the victims” and is working to secure their release.