Presidential aide Bayo Onanuga has said that the lives of Muslims in Nigeria are equally valuable, rejecting U.S. claims that Christians are being systematically persecuted in the country.

Onanuga, who serves as Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to President Bola Tinubu, made the statement on Saturday in reaction to a post by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio concerning alleged Christian genocide in Nigeria.

Rubio, while justifying President Donald Trump’s decision to designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), wrote on X (formerly Twitter):

“The ongoing slaughter of thousands of Christians in Nigeria by radical Islamists and Fulani ethnic militias is both tragic and unacceptable. As @POTUS said, the United States stands ready, willing, and able to act.”

Responding in the comment section, Onanuga countered Rubio’s assertion, stating:

“Secretary Rubio, Muslim lives matter too.”

He dismissed the claim of mass Christian killings as “a gross exaggeration of the Nigerian situation.”

According to Onanuga, there is no organized campaign against Christians in Nigeria, but rather a series of sporadic attacks by bandits and terrorists that cut across religious and ethnic lines.

“What we do have are sporadic attacks on some villages by bandits and terrorists, and these attacks are religiously insensitive. Christians, Muslims, churches, and mosques are attacked randomly,” he said.

The presidential aide emphasized that what Nigeria needs from the United States is military and intelligence support to combat violent extremists, not diplomatic blacklisting or stigmatization.

“Our country requires America’s partnership to defeat these threats, not designation as a nation of particular concern,” Onanuga added.