The United States launched air strikes in Nigeria on December 26, 2025, targeting ISIS militants in Sokoto state, reportedly at the request of Nigerian authorities.
This move followed US President Donald Trump’s redesignation of Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” in October, citing allegations of Christian genocide.
“Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed,” Trump said, blaming radical Islamists for the “mass slaughter”.
Trump’s claims were reportedly influenced by data from Emeka Umeagbalasi, a screwdriver trader and founder of the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety).
Umeagbalasi claimed to have documented 125,000 Christian deaths in Nigeria since 2009, based on Google searches, Nigerian media, and advocacy groups like Open Doors.
The report said US lawmakers Riley Moore and Ted Cruz, whom Trump had asked to investigate the Christian genocide claims in Nigeria, alongside congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey, “have all cited his work”.
Umeagbalasi told the New York Times that he rarely verifies his data.
He also acknowledged that he rarely travels to the regions where attacks have occurred and usually assumes the victims’ religion based on the location of the attack.
“If a mass abduction or killing happens in an area where he thinks many Christians live, he assumes the victims are Christians,” the report reads.
Also, in an interview with The Sun, Umeagbalasi, when asked about the source of his data, pointed to “location and space of an incident or crime scene” and described his methodology as “one of the oldest natural methods in the world”.
The businessman said he has degrees in security studies, peace and conflict resolution from the National Open University of Nigeria and described himself as a very “powerful” and “knowledgeable” investigator.
A self-acclaimed criminologist, Umeagbalasi is described as a guru in the report, where he claimed there is a “strategy to annihilate all Christians and Islamize Nigeria”.
He claimed 100,000 churches exist in Nigeria and about 20,000 of them were destroyed in the past 16 years.
When asked about the source of his data, he simply said “I Googled it”.
Moreover, while relying on information provided by three congressmen — who have repeatedly referenced Umeagbalasi’s data — Trump launched a volley of strikes in Nigeria during the yuletide.
However, critics argue that Umeagbalasi’s data may be misleading, and that violence in Nigeria is multifaceted, affecting various communities.