The Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, Mahmoud Youssouf, has said there is no evidence of targeted killings of Christians in northern Nigeria, insisting that the security situation in the region cannot be characterised as genocide.

Speaking with journalists at the United Nations headquarters in New York, Youssouf said current narratives describing events in northern Nigeria as “Christian genocide” oversimplify a complex security landscape.

According to him, Muslims were the earliest victims of Boko Haram’s insurgency.

“The first victims of Boko Haram are Muslims, not Christians. And I’m saying it with documented references,” he said.

He cautioned against using “easy words” to describe the situation, adding that the AU has consistently stated in its reports and communiqués that there is no genocide in northern Nigeria.

“The complexity of the northern part of Nigeria should not be taken that easily,” Youssouf said. “The African continent is very complex, that is why the AU Commission is very clear about that. We would like to stress again that there is no genocide in northern Nigeria.”

Claims of a Christian genocide in Nigeria have circulated widely on traditional and social media, particularly among some political figures in the United States.

In response, a group of US lawmakers recently urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to take diplomatic action over alleged “systematic persecution and slaughter of Christians” in the country.

Following the lawmakers’ letter, US President Donald Trump redesignated Nigeria as a “country of particular concern (CPC)” over allegations of Christian persecution, warning that the Nigerian government risked losing US aid if it failed to address the issue.

The federal government has consistently rejected the allegations.

However, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) maintains that Christian communities have experienced repeated and deadly attacks in several parts of the country.