Bill Maher: "I'm not a Christian, but they are systematically killing Christians in Nigeria. They've killed over 100,000. They've burned 18,000 church

While Christians have undeniably suffered horrific attacks, incidents of explicitly religious violence constitute only a fraction of Nigeria’s homicides, and direct interfaith confrontations are relatively rare. Framing Nigeria’s violence as Muslims killing Christians grossly misrepresents the situation. Worse still, some outside groups have published inflated statistics of Christian deaths without credible methodology, often counting every victim in certain regions as Christian by default or conflating deaths regardless of motive. Such dubious claims, pushed by the likes of Bill Maher, obscure the truth and trivialise the complexity of Nigeria’s conflicts.

A significant portion of the violence mischaracterised as religious persecution stems from longstanding herder–farmer clashes in the Middle Belt, driven by competition over land and water, population pressures and climate change. The Fulani herders are mostly Muslim, while the farmers come from diverse groups, many Christian. This demographic divide can create the illusion of a religious war, but at its root are disputes over resources. Both sides have been perpetrators and victims.