The senators, who requested in a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, also claimed that Nigerian Christians’ freedom of religion was being violated.

Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the minister of information and culture, responded to the allegation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Abuja, saying the call was founded on erroneous assumptions and an inaccurate understanding of the situation in the country.

He said, “You will recall that only a few months ago, Nigeria was taken out of the list of countries of particular concern because it was proven that there is no iota of truth in the allegation that Christians or any religion was being persecuted or people were not allowed to practice the religion of their choice.

“We want to say once again that Nigeria does not have a policy that denies people the freedom to practice their religion.

“The country also does not have a policy of violation of freedom of religion and it is not true that Nigeria persecutes anybody on account of his or her faith.”

Mohammed said the constitution of Nigeria guarantees the right of anybody to practice his or her faith without molestation and the government has always safeguarded the constitutional provision jealously.

He said most commentators who were not well versed in the politics and happenings in Nigeria took criminalities and communal clashes as issues of religious persecution.

“Nobody in Nigeria is being persecuted but we have issues of criminality going on and the criminals do not make distinctions of any religion.

“They kidnap for money, they hold people on ransom irrespective of their religion and there are some issues of communal matters dating back to many years.

“If statistics are to be taken, I can say confidently that as many Muslims as Christians have been victims of these criminals,” he said.

According to the minister, the only known group that targets Christians is the Islamic State’s West Africa Province. He, however, said that the federal government had mounted a large-scale military operation to wipe out the criminals and it was yielding results.

“What ISWAP is doing is that, because of their dwindling influence, they are now attacking Churches and Christians to create a crisis between various religious groups. But as a government, we are after them,” he said.

The minister claimed that some NGOs were also spreading false information to the international community to secure funding from donors.

In addition to working together to find a solution to the situation and restore peace and unity, Mohammed reaffirmed Nigeria’s two main religions, Islam and Christianity.

He cited the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council as an example of a group aiming to promote harmony and greater understanding between the Christian and Islamic faiths.

The minister sought assistance from multilateral organizations and other countries in addressing the problems associated with insecurity.