Ayo Olumekor, a former officer of the Nigerian Air Force, says growing international concern, particularly in the United States about the alleged persistent killings in Nigeria reflects deep governance and security failures that Nigerian authorities have yet to confront decisively.
Speaking with BusinessDay, Olumekor said the latest statements and hearings in the U.S. Congress show that American lawmakers across party lines recognise that religiously targeted killings are occurring in Nigeria, even though they differ on the extent and classification of the violence.
“Well, it says they are collaborating. We can’t tell how far this will go,” he said, responding to the engagements between Nigerian officials and Pete Hegseth, U.S. Secretary of War.
According to him, debates in Washington have reopened questions about whether Christians in Nigeria are facing a form of genocide, an issue he says the Nigerian government has been reluctant to address candidly.
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Olumekor expressed concern that recurring mass abductions across the country continue to expose systemic lapses.
“For that to still happen, it means there’s something we are not getting right, or it means those who are behind this are still in control, untrammelled,” he said.
He added that many Nigerians increasingly believe that “Boko Haram is being treated with kid gloves,” a perception that has hardened into what he described as “a national consensus.”
He questioned why the late Mohammed Buhari administration did not publish the list of terrorism financiers reportedly identified by the United Arab Emirates several years ago.
He criticized what he described as an astonishing government response at the time that cited “privacy and human rights” concerns for suspected terrorism sponsors. “It’s insanity. It wouldn’t even have happened in an asylum.”
Olumekor explained that the heightened U.S. scrutiny dates back to when Donald Trump, U.S. President, designated Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern”, a classification reserved for nations implicated in severe violations of religious freedom.
He noted that the push for the designation initially came from Chris Smith, a Congressman and chair of the Africa Subcommittee of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Ted Cruz, a Senator.
Before the proposal even reached the House floor, Trump moved unilaterally to categorise Nigeria as a major concern.
“Once that happened, we had a flurry of activities and narratives,” he said, noting that while Republicans argued Christians were being specifically targeted, Democrats called for a broader approach but did not deny widespread killings.
According to him, “one thing everybody agreed to was that, yes, there were killings.”
Olumekor revealed that U.S. lawmakers at a congressional hearing expressed disappointment with what they described as Nigeria’s unwillingness to acknowledge that Christians in states like Plateau, Benue, and Southern Kaduna are being specifically targeted.
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He said both Congressmen Smith and Riley Moore, who had earlier met with Nigeria’s visiting delegation, criticised Abuja’s failure to provide evidence of meaningful arrests or prosecutions of perpetrators.
“They challenged the Nigerian delegation to give them any kind of proof. Not only are there no sufficient records about arrests, there are no records of consequences being meted out to perpetrators over a long period”, he said.
Olumekor said several U.S. lawmakers believe President Bola Tinubu’s administration has not done enough to stem the killings, accusing the government of routinely defending or downplaying the scale of violence.
He described the Nigerian government’s posture as “too full of defence, trying to excuse the killings that have been happening.”
He also criticised Nigeria’s diplomatic lapses, especially the long absence of ambassadors in major countries.
“Our president and foreign affairs ministers were comfortable with the fact that for over two years, we did not have a single ambassador anywhere in the world, particularly in the United States,” he said.
According to him, this left Nigeria without any official diplomatic presence during major congressional debates on the crisis.
Olumekor confirmed that at the same time the U.S. Congress held its hearing, Nuhu Ribadu, National Security Adviser was in Washington with a delegation that included the Attorney-General, the Inspector-General of Police, and the Chief of Defence Staff.
They held meetings with senior U.S. lawmakers, including the chairman of the Africa Subcommittee, Congressman Quinn Greene, as well as Congressman Moore.
However, Olumekor said the initial impressions shared publicly by the lawmakers indicated skepticism about Nigeria’s explanations and evidence.
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Two senior officials from the U.S. State Department attended the hearing and confirmed that Ribadu’s delegation is scheduled to meet top officials within the department.
“The American government, both the executive arm and the legislative arm, really want to see how they can help Nigeria to end some of the very heinous killings,” Olumekor said.
He said the mood in Washington suggests both political parties in the U.S. are aligned on pushing Nigeria to show greater accountability, transparency, and concrete action.
Pete Hegseth, U.S. Secretary of War also confirmed the meeting on X, noting that under the current U.S. presidential leadership, the Department of War is “working aggressively with Nigeria to end the persecution of Christians by jihadist terrorists.”
