A lawmaker representing West Virginia’s Second District in the United States House of Congress, Rep. Riley M. Moore, has called on President Donald Trump to designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) over alleged persecution of Christians.

In a letter dated October 6, 2025, and addressed to Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, U.S. Department of State, Washington D.C., Moore urged the U.S. government to suspend all arms sales and technical support to Nigeria until the Nigerian authorities demonstrate genuine commitment to ending what he described as “persecution and slaughter.”

According to the congressman, no fewer than 7,000 Christians were “gruesomely murdered” by extremist groups between January and September 2025 alone.

He further alleged that at least 250 Catholic priests have been attacked or killed across the country since 2015, adding that “between the Boko Haram uprising in 2009 and 2025, about 19,100 churches in Nigeria have been attacked or destroyed.”

Moore’s appeal comes amid renewed international debate on religious persecution in Nigeria. President Trump had during his first term designated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern, a status later reversed by his successor, former President Joe Biden.

Several prominent U.S. figures, including Senator Ted Cruz, television host Bill Maher, and political commentator Van Jones, have also described the situation in Nigeria as a “Christian genocide.”

During a recent podcast appearance with Maher, Senator Cruz alleged that Christians were being systematically targeted and killed in Nigeria, calling the development “a genocide.”

However, the Federal Government has dismissed the allegations, insisting that the country’s security challenges are not religiously motivated.

The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, recently described the claims as false, misleading, and capable of inciting division.

According to Dare, those pushing the narrative were “orchestrating wild allegations about an unproven ongoing genocide” and attempting to “robe the country with a garment that is not hers.”

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