The US launched air strikes in Nigeria on December 26, targeting ISIS terrorists in Northwestern Sokoto State, reportedly at the request of Nigerian authorities.
However, a New York Times investigation reveals that the decision was influenced by data from Emeka Umeagbalasi, a screwdriver trader in Onitsha, Anambra state, who claims to have documented 125,000 Christian deaths in Nigeria since 2009.
Umeagbalasi, founder of the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), has been cited by US Republican lawmakers, including Riley Moore and Ted Cruz, as an expert on the alleged Christian genocide in Nigeria.
His data, which has been questioned by experts, is based on Google searches, Nigerian media reports, and advocacy groups like Open Doors.
“If a mass abduction or killing happens in an area where he thinks many Christians live, he assumes the victims are Christians,” the New York Times report reads.
Umeagbalasi himself admitted to rarely verifying his data and seldom traveling to affected regions.
When asked about his methodology, he said it was “one of the oldest natural methods in the world” and pointed to “location and space of an incident or crime scene”.
Umeagbalasi’s claims include a “strategy to annihilate all Christians and Islamize Nigeria,” with 100,000 churches in Nigeria and about 20,000 destroyed in the past 16 years.
When asked about the source of this data, he simply said: “I Googled it”.
His work has been used by US lawmakers to promote the idea that Christians are being singled out for slaughter in Nigeria.
The Nigerian government has denied allegations of Christian genocide, and experts argue that the situation is more complex, with violence affecting both Christians and Muslims.
ACLED, a global conflict-tracking organization, reports that only 5% of incidents were explicitly religiously motivated.
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