Tensions flared on Piers Morgan’s programme on Tuesday when Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, faced off with former Canadian lawmaker Goldie Ghamari over allegations of systematic persecution of Christians in Nigeria.
The debate was sparked after Morgan cited figures from the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), claiming that over 50,000 Christians have been killed and 18,000 churches destroyed in Nigeria since 2009. Tuggar rejected these numbers, emphasizing that the Nigerian government does not track fatalities by religion and treats all victims equally as Nigerians.
“When Morgan demanded official figures, the minister stated that only 177 Christians had been killed and 102 churches attacked within the last five years,” reports highlighted.
Ghamari escalated the discussion, asserting that the violence in Nigeria constitutes jihad and controversially linking it to the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel.
“I don’t have to be familiar with the Constitution of Nigeria to know that when someone yells ‘Allahu Akbar’ before they massacre 200 Christians and burn Christian churches, that’s not just banditry. That’s jihad,” she said. She also alleged, “This is a government that is working closely behind the scenes with the Islamic Republic of Iran. You should ask the foreign minister why Nigerian school children are holding pictures of the Ayatollah who is a brutal dictator and is murdering my people in Iran… people need to look into the linkages between the current Nigerian government and the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Ghamari, reflecting on her political experience, added: “I was a politician for seven years, Piers, and I can tell when someone is lying and avoiding the truth. That’s exactly what this foreign minister is doing, and shame on him for lying.”
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Tuggar responded sharply, dismissing her claims as baseless and accusing her of reducing Nigerian lives to “talking points” while misrepresenting the country’s political realities. He defended the administration’s leadership structure, explaining that Nigerians value geographic balance, noting that the president is from the South and the vice president from the North.
On the subject of Islamist extremist attacks, Tuggar condemned the violence and shared personal loss: “I lost my father-in-law to an attack by an Islamic terrorist group, Boko Haram, so I myself I’m a victim. I’ve lost family members to attacks, and they were Muslims. But it doesn’t matter whether they’re Muslim or Christian… the number one enemy of Boko Haram is not a Christian. It is a Muslim who does not subscribe to their own brand of Islam.”
Ghamari countered, insisting that attacks on Muslims do not invalidate claims of targeted persecution of Christians in Nigeria. Tuggar fired back, accusing her of inflaming tensions from afar:
“People like her trade in starting wars in faraway places where they have no contact, they have no understanding, and they can do that from their armchairs… they don’t care about freedoms and are seeking to destabilise Nigeria because it is Africa’s biggest democracy and a regional stabiliser. It’s not going to happen to Nigeria. Move on to your next project. You’re a disgrace. You’re a disgrace to the Canadian nation.”
The heated exchange comes months after U.S. President Donald Trump designated Nigeria a “country of particular concern” following reports of Christian persecution.