Tuggar, Canadian Ex-Lawmaker Clash on Piers Morgan’s Show Over Alleged Persecution of Christians in Nigeria
By Ochuko Kokofe,
A heated exchange erupted on Piers Morgan Uncensored recently as Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, and former Canadian lawmaker, Goldie Ghamari, clashed bitterly over allegations that Christians are being systematically persecuted in Nigeria.
The confrontation began after Morgan cited figures from the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), claiming that more than 50,000 Christians had been killed and 18,000 churches destroyed in Nigeria since 2009. Tuggar dismissed the statistics as grossly inaccurate, insisting that the Nigerian government does not record fatalities based on religion.
According to the minister, official data from the past five years show that 177 Christians were killed and 102 churches attacked. “We do not segregate victims by faith. Every life is equal, and every victim is a Nigerian,” Tuggar maintained.
The debate intensified when Ghamari joined the programme, accusing the Nigerian government of downplaying what she described as jihadist-driven violence. She linked the attacks in Nigeria to global extremist movements and controversially referenced the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
“I don’t need Nigeria’s constitution to know that when someone yells ‘Allahu Akbar’ before massacring Christians and burning churches, that is jihad,” she argued. She further alleged that the Nigerian government maintains ties with Iran, claiming that schoolchildren in Nigeria were seen holding photos of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Ghamari accused Tuggar of evading the truth, saying, “I was a politician for seven years. I can tell when someone is lying. That’s exactly what this foreign minister is doing.”
Tuggar swiftly fired back, describing her assertions as “baseless, inflammatory, and uninformed.” He accused Ghamari of trivialising Nigerian lives and oversimplifying the nation’s political and ethnic dynamics. Addressing her comments on President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima, Tuggar explained that Nigeria’s political structure emphasises geographical balance, not religious conspiracy.
When asked by Morgan whether he condemned attacks on Christians by Islamist extremists, Tuggar affirmed that he did and revealed that he had personally suffered losses to Boko Haram. “I lost my father-in-law to an Islamic terrorist attack. I’ve lost family members who were Muslims. Boko Haram’s biggest enemy is a Muslim who rejects their ideology,” he said.
Ghamari, however, insisted that attacks against Muslims did not negate what she described as “targeted ethnic cleansing of Christians.” Tuggar rebuked her sharply, accusing her of fueling conflict from a distance. “People like her start wars in places they know nothing about. They tried it in Sudan. They want to destabilise Nigeria because it is Africa’s biggest democracy. It won’t happen,” he declared, calling her “a disgrace to the Canadian nation.”
The controversy comes weeks after former U.S. President Donald Trump described Nigeria as a “country of particular concern,” alleging mass killings of Christians. Trump claimed that thousands of Nigerian Christians were facing an existential threat and urged U.S. lawmakers to investigate the matter urgently.
Nigeria’s federal government has since rejected the genocide claims, maintaining that while insecurity remains a national challenge, violence in the country is not driven by religious cleansing.
Kokofe writes in From Abuja
