Tuggar, Ex-Canadian Lawmaker Clash on Piers Morgan Show Over Alleged Christian Genocide in Nigeria

Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, and former Canadian lawmaker Goldie Ghamari engaged in a heated exchange on Piers Morgan’s programme on Tuesday over claims of widespread persecution of Christians in Nigeria.

The debate began after Morgan referenced figures from the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), which alleged that more than 50,000 Christians have been killed and 18,000 churches destroyed in Nigeria since 2009.

Tuggar dismissed the statistics as inaccurate, insisting the government does not record deaths by religious affiliation and treats all victims equally. When pushed for official data, he stated that in the past five years, 177 Christians had been killed and 102 churches attacked.

Tensions rose when Ghamari joined the discussion. She described Nigeria’s security situation as “jihad,” even linking it to Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. She further implied that the Muslim identities of President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima signaled an enabling government.

She alleged: “This is a government working behind the scenes with the Islamic Republic of Iran… people need to look into the linkages between the current Nigerian government and Iran.”
She also accused Tuggar of dishonesty: “I was a politician for seven years and I can tell when someone is lying. That’s exactly what this foreign minister is doing.”

Tuggar sharply rejected her claims, describing them as baseless and detached from Nigeria’s realities. He criticised her for “trivialising” Nigerian lives from afar and said religion is not the country’s political priority, noting Nigeria’s practice of balancing geopolitical zones rather than faith.

When asked whether he condemns attacks on Christians by Islamist extremists, Tuggar said he did, adding that he personally lost his father-in-law to Boko Haram:
“I’m a victim myself… they were Muslims. But it doesn’t matter whether they’re Muslim or Christian. The number one enemy of Boko Haram is a Muslim who rejects their ideology.”

Ghamari countered that this does not negate what she described as the “ethnic cleansing of Christians in Nigeria.”

In response, Tuggar accused her of fuelling conflicts in countries she knows little about:
“People like her trade in starting wars in far-away places… they broke up Sudan this way. They don’t care about freedoms and want to fracture Nigeria because it’s Africa’s biggest democracy.”

He ended his rebuttal by saying: “It’s not going to happen to Nigeria. Move on to your next project. You’re a disgrace to the Canadian nation.”

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