U.S. Congressman Riley Moore has come under fire from President Bola Tinubu’s Special Assistant on Social Media, Olusegun Dada, for his recent remarks claiming that Christians in Nigeria are persecuted.
Dada, who goes by Daddy D.O. on X, labelled the U.S. legislator “ignorant” about Nigeria’s religious reality in a post published on the site on Tuesday.
Dada wrote, “First of all, Congressman Riley, you are as ignorant as Ted Cruz about Nigeria, if not more so.”
“No faith is under siege, no community is excluded,” he continued, emphasising that Nigeria is “a proud, sovereign nation built on the faith and resilience of its people.”
Dada said, “Our churches, mosques, and traditional shrines stand side by side — not as rivals, but as symbols of the commonality that unites us.”
In a series of posts published on Monday, U.S. politician Riley Moore referred to Nigeria as “the deadliest country in the world for Christians.” Dada’s remarks followed suit.
Because of alleged religious persecution, Moore had urged U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to declare Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern.
Moore claimed that “at least 250 priests have been attacked or killed in the last decade” and that “more than 19,000 churches have been attacked or destroyed since 2009,” adding that “more than 50,000 Christians have been murdered and more than 5 million displaced since Boko Haram’s insurgency in 2009.”
He also mentioned instances of anti-blasphemy laws being applied and said that “some state and federal officials” in Nigeria were involved in attacks on Christians.
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz made similar claims in late September that Nigerian officials were “ignoring and even facilitating the mass murder of Christians by Islamist jihadists,” which Moore’s tweet followed.
In response to both MPs, Dada insisted that their assertions were baseless and inaccurately depicted the coexistence of religions in Nigeria.
“I hope #TuckerCarlson can ask #tedcruz this line of questions again, but this time about Nigeria,” Dada said. Although Ted Cruz was ignorant of Iran’s population and cultural composition, he nevertheless wanted the states to go to war with it. The same complete lack of knowledge about Nigeria.
