Trump says Christians are being persecuted in Nigeria. Experts and residents say the reality is more complex

LIGARE, Nigeria (AP) — Villagers in northwestern Nigeria were settling in for a church service when gunmen riding motorcycles swept in, shooting indiscriminately and kidnapping at least 62 people, including a priest and several children.

They were taken to nearby bushes, then forced to walk for two days to a hideout in the forest. They said they were held there for about a month while their relatives and other villagers sold everything they could — farmland, livestock and motorcycles — to raise the ransom required for their release.

He watches: Amid escalating violence, Nigeria rejects Trump’s claims of targeted persecution of Christians

They were given little food and sleep, were told to renounce Christianity, and saw two fellow hostages killed, four villagers who were eventually released told The Associated Press in interviews at their church in the community of Legari, in Nigeria’s Kaduna state.

“I told my people even if they see my dead body, they should not deny Jesus and they should stay strong,” said Pastor Micah Boles, resident pastor at Kauna Baptist Church.

Since the attack last November, the community has witnessed more violence, like much of the conflict-torn north. On Monday, gunmen kidnapped 25 schoolgirls and killed at least one female employee at a boarding school in Kebbi, another northwestern state.

In Ligari, villagers say almost every family has witnessed the killing or kidnapping of a relative, friend or neighbour. It’s part of Nigeria’s long-running security crisis – a place US President Donald Trump has now singled out for “the killing of Christians” by “Islamist extremists”.

Victims and church leaders echo Trump’s claims that Christians are being persecuted. They say they have been attacked, kidnapped or killed for a long time because of their faith.

But many insist the reality is not as simple as Trump’s narrative, which portrays Christianity as facing an “existential threat” in Nigeria. Experts and residents say some attacks target Christians, but most stress that in the widespread violence that has long plagued the West African country, everyone is a potential victim, regardless of background or belief.

“They don’t ask you whether you are Muslim or Christian,” 32-year-old Abdul Malik Sidhu said of the gunmen who regularly haunt the northwestern state of Zamfara. “All they want is money from you. (Even) if you have money, sometimes they will kill you.”

Sidhu, a Muslim, said his brother was shot dead during a kidnapping along a major highway, and the family was never able to recover his body, fearing attacks. In Kaduna, an imam told the AP that he lost a grandson, a cousin and a brother, and his family has been displaced twice due to violence. Other religious leaders say mosques were destroyed, people fled, and desperate Muslims – like their Christian neighbors – were forced to sell goods and property to hold ransoms.

“The kind of pain we have been through over the past years – this issue affects both faiths,” Imam Idris Ishaq said.

“War against Nigeria”

Nigeria’s population of 220 million is almost evenly divided between Christians, who live mostly in the south, and Muslims, mostly in the north – where attacks have long been concentrated and where levels of illiteracy, poverty and hunger are among the highest in the country. Nationally, Muslims constitute a slight majority.

Experts and data from two nonpartisan sources — the U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project and the Council on Foreign Relations — show that Christians are often the targets in a small percentage of overall attacks that appear to be religiously motivated, in some northern states.

Read more: 12 forest rangers were killed by gunmen in north-central Nigeria

But numbers and analysts also indicate that most victims of violence in general in the north are Muslims.

Analysts and residents blame the killings on rampant corruption that limits arms supplies to security forces, the failure to prosecute attackers, and porous borders that ensure a steady supply of weapons to gangs.

“These attacks are indiscriminate: they attack state institutions, they target Nigerians in their places of worship, and they target Nigerians in civilian sites,” said Bulama Bukarti, a Nigerian conflict researcher and human rights lawyer. “In essence, it is a war against Nigeria.”

In the country’s northeast, jihadist extremists from Boko Haram, and more recently a splinter faction backed by the Islamic State, have since 2009 been waging an insurgency to impose their brutal interpretation of Islamic law. In 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 276 schoolgirls – most of them Christian, but some Muslim – from a school in Chibok, in Borno State. The unprecedented attack marked a new era of fear across Nigeria. Mass kidnappings, especially of students, have been on the rise since then.

In the northwest and central regions, rogue gangs attack villages, travelers and farming communities made up mostly of Christians. The gangs are not linked to Boko Haram and are generally not motivated by religious motives. The ransom they demand can reach thousands of dollars.

The Legari community, which includes the church from which 62 people were kidnapped, is located less than 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the capital of Kaduna. But its rocky road, vast forests and lack of security posts mean that villagers receive little security intervention.

“My wife was kidnapped twice, and I was kidnapped once,” said Mika Musa, a farmer who complained that officers never came to help the family. “Everything I had was destroyed.”

Analysts say numbers cannot tell the whole story

Trump called Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern” — a U.S. declaration for countries it says are failing to take action on religious freedom violations — and told defense officials this month to begin preparing for military action here. The State Department on Monday confirmed to the AP that the United States is “ready, willing and able to act” in Nigeria.

Trump’s announcement came on the heels of a crackdown by Republican lawmakers who said 100,000 Christians had been killed in Nigeria — a number also cited by TV talk show host Bill Maher. This number is now echoed among Christian communities in Nigeria, but experts say it is likely exaggerated.

Read more: Trump threatens Nigeria with possible military action over allegations of Christian persecution

ACLED – which uses local news reports for its data – says 52,915 civilians have been killed in Nigeria through targeted political violence since 2009, with the victims both Christians and Muslims.

“It is important to note that while attacks against Christians are real and deeply concerning, communities across religious lines are affected,” said Ladd Sirwat, ACLED’s senior Africa analyst.

The Council on Foreign Relations’ Nigerian Security Report, which also uses news reports, shows that more than 100,000 Nigerians have died in armed violence since 2011 — but that number includes civilians and security forces, who are overstretched and often targeted by gangs.

Analysts say breakdowns by religion are simply not possible. Religious identities are not always reported, record keeping is difficult amid violence, and motives for attacks may be unclear.

Like Christians, some Muslims say they are targeted because of their faith. Mosques have been attacked during prayer, and those praying inside have been killed or kidnapped. Experts say that in all cases, religious or economic motives could be at play.

Desperate families make deals with gangs

Arrests in attacks are rare. The lack of law enforcement has prompted some communities to make deals with gangs, allowing them access to their farmland – a sign of growing desperation.

“The message the government is sending is that you can commit heinous crimes and get away with it,” researcher Bukarti said.

Read more: Nigerian army air strikes free 76 hostages, including children and kidnapping victims

In June, gunmen killed at least 150 people in the Yelwata community in north-central Nigeria. Villager Titus Tsegba told the Associated Press that security forces arrived long after the attackers had left. His wife and four children were among those killed.

After the November church attack in Kaduna, the released hostages said they felt abandoned, without support from security forces. They noted that despite trekking through neighboring communities for two days to reach the kidnappers’ hideout, they did not see any law enforcement presence.

Simon Shuaibu, a Kaduna pastor, said some deals with gangs had led to fewer killings. He added that villagers depend on agriculture, and gangs force them to pay before harvesting or face kidnapping.

Tabitha Danladi, 55, and her husband were kidnapped in June. She said she was released and was asked to raise money for his release.

“I sold everything,” said Danladi, who struggled to feed her four children while paying the ransom. “But we don’t know if he’s still alive.”

For some, Trump’s words bring hope

When Trump threatened military intervention, Nigerian officials largely rejected the idea.

But some see it as a wake-up call to a government they say has ignored them.

“The reaction of many Nigerians to Trump’s comments has been, at the very least, anger and frustration toward the Nigerian government, if not in some cases outright embrace of the possibility of American intervention,” said James Barnett, an Africa scholar at the conservative Washington-based Hudson Institute think tank.

In Kaduna, Pastor John Hayab, a Baptist minister, said Trump had brought much needed attention.

“If there is any sound that can wake them up…please turn it up,” he said. “We have been screaming all these years, and no action has been taken.”

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through an AP collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from the Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.