Festus Keyamo, Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, has addressed President Donald Trump in an open letter to rebut claims of systematic persecution and mass killings of Christians in Nigeria.
Keyamo opens by noting his three decades of legal practice, his human rights award in Washington in 2017, and his Christian upbringing.
He uses that background to insist his appointment to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s cabinet would be morally impossible were there credible evidence that the state targets Christians because of their faith.
Keyamo frames the violence afflicting Nigeria as long standing and multifaceted. He attributes most bloodshed to insurgents such as Boko Haram, as well as criminal herdsmen and cattle rustlers.
He argues the government under President Tinubu has made progress against these groups and stresses that many senior security chiefs are themselves Christians.
He describes President Tinubu as a moderate Muslim who has worked with Christian leaders and whose family includes practising Christians, arguing it is improbable the administration would adopt or tolerate a policy of religious persecution.
Keyamo stresses Nigeria’s constitutional secularism and the legal protection of religious freedom. He points out that opposition political figures in Nigeria concur there is no targeted campaign against Christians.
His appeal to the United States is pragmatic. He asks the Trump administration to broaden its sources, seek balanced information, and offer cooperation and support to confront terrorism rather than presuming a sectarian motive.
The letter closes with a call for frank dialogue and international collaboration to address Nigeria’s longstanding security challenges.
The full text of Keyamo’s open letter to Trump reads as follows:
Dear President Trump @realDonaldTrump ,
I am a lawyer of more than three decades of active practice, most of which was dedicated to activism in promotion and protection of human rights. In 2017, right there in Washington, I was found worthy to be awarded the Global Human Rights Award by the United States Global Leadership Council, which had the eminent Dr. Reuben Egolf as its Chairman at the time. This was in recognition of my work over the years in the promotion of the rights of the downtrodden people. I was also born and raised as a Christian in Nigeria.
There is, therefore, a need for me to add my little voice to the issue that has agitated your mind lately (with the hope it would be heard, even as a whimper): the purported ‘mass killings’ of Christians in Nigeria.
I was appointed by the present President of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as his Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, along with other Christians. Because of my strong Christian background and ethical pedigree, it would have been most unconscionable for me to associate with – let alone accept to serve or continue to serve – a government if truly there is any scintilla of truth in the assertion that Christians are SPECIFICALLY targeted in Nigeria for persecution, killings or harassment ON ACCOUNT OF THEIR FAITH. It is simply not true.
Just like the U.S and many countries in the world, we have faced our own fair share of societal violence; ours has been perpetrated by deadly groups known as Boko Haram (now seriously decimated), herdsmen, and cattle rustlers. These decades-old problems were inherited by our President who has made great progress in the fight against these insurgents. In fact, most of the security Chiefs appointed by him are Christians, so it would be unthinkable to imagine them being complicit in the killing of fellow Christians in Nigeria.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Nigeria, though a Muslim, is a known ‘moderate’, whose wife is a Pastor of one of the biggest Pentecostal Churches in Nigeria and most of his children are practising Christians. When he was Governor of Lagos State, he regularly invited Christian Pastors for prayers and worship sessions at the Government House. He will be the last person to either adopt the killing of Christians as a State Policy, or condone such acts or be complicit in them.
Nigeria is a secular State and our Constitution explicitly provides for freedom of religion and prohibits the adoption of a State religion, reflecting its status as a multi-faith nation. This legal framework underpins the country’s diverse religious landscape, which includes significant populations of Muslims, Christians, and adherents of traditional African religions, coexisting within a nation’s space.
In all honesty, the insecurity in some parts of the country over the years has impacted adherents of all religions and this government has not sought to protect one set of adherents and ignore the others.
Ordinarily, opposition politicians will oppose the government of the day. But on this matter, President Trump, you would have observed that leaders of the opposition parties in Nigeria are united on one point: there is no TARGETED killing of Christians in Nigeria.
President Trump, the Nigerian people ask for deep and sincere understanding from your government at this point; the Nigerian people ask for support and cooperation from your government at this point to confront this decades-old menace of terrorism; we ask for collaboration; we ask for frank and open dialogue at this time with your government; we ask that you broaden your sources of information at this time so as to get a balanced view of the happenings in Nigeria.
Thank you.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria and
God bless the United States of America.
——- Festus Keyamo (Senior Advocate of Nigeria & Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators of the United Kingdom)
Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development,
Federal Republic of Nigeria.
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