Benue, Nigeria, December 12, 2025 – U.S. Republican Congressman Riley Moore has described a surge of violent attacks on Christian communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt as a “genocidal campaign”, promising to brief former President Donald Trump following a high-risk fact-finding mission to Benue State.
Speaking on Fox News’ The Faulkner Focus, Moore said he and four other members of the U.S. House Appropriations Committee toured several Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in Benue, traveling in armored vehicles due to the worsening insecurity.
According to Moore, the delegation met with Catholic Bishops Wilfred Anagbe and Stephen Dugu, the Tor Tiv, and dozens of displaced victims—all of whom are Christians.
Moore claimed that Fulani militants, whom he described as “Islamic radicals,” were routinely attacking IDP camps and systematically targeting Christian communities. He recounted harrowing accounts, including a woman forced to watch five of her children murdered before her eyes while she was pregnant. She later gave birth at an IDP camp, traumatized by the ordeal.
In another case, he said, a woman’s unborn child was forcibly taken after attackers killed her husband and two daughters during a separate assault.
Rejecting commonly cited explanations such as climate pressures, land disputes, or economic rivalry, Moore said, “If this is climate change, why burn a church? Why attack an IDP camp shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’?”
Moore insisted that the attacks are intentional efforts to erase Christians from their ancestral homeland in Benue and other parts of Nigeria. He added that the IDP camps are not safe havens, contrary to official claims. “These camps aren’t protected. People are terrified,” he said.
The Congressman disclosed that President Trump had instructed him and House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole to prepare a detailed report recommending how the U.S. should engage Nigerian authorities on the crisis. The report, he said, is expected to be submitted before the end of December.
Moore’s comments highlight a longstanding controversy over Middle Belt violence, where clashes between farmers and herders have left thousands dead over the years. Rights groups accuse Nigerian authorities of downplaying atrocities and failing to prosecute offenders, while critics caution that foreign officials sometimes oversimplify the conflict as purely religious.
Describing the emotional impact of the trip, Moore said, “Many Christians are being murdered for their faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” The delegation engaged with church leaders, Christian associations, and local communities to gather firsthand accounts of the violence.
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