By Chibuike Nwabuko
President Bola Tinubu has defended Nigeria’s record on religious freedom, insisting that the country remains a democracy built on constitutional guarantees of liberty and tolerance for all faiths.
In a strong statement he personally signed on Saturday, Tinubu said Nigeria “stands firmly as a democracy governed by constitutional guarantees of religious liberty,” rejecting any characterization of the nation as religiously intolerant.
“Since 2023, our administration has maintained open and active engagement with Christian and Muslim leaders alike and continues to address security challenges which affect citizens across faiths and regions,” the President said.
He described the notion of Nigeria as a country of religious persecution as “a misrepresentation of our national reality” and emphasized that the government has made “consistent and sincere efforts to safeguard freedom of religion and beliefs for all Nigerians.”
“Religious freedom and tolerance have been a core tenet of our collective identity and shall always remain so. Nigeria opposes religious persecution and does not encourage it,” Tinubu stressed.
Reaffirming his administration’s readiness to cooperate internationally, Tinubu said Nigeria will continue to work with the United States government and other global partners “to deepen understanding and cooperation on the protection of communities of all faiths.”
Precise Post recalls that the President’s remark comes amid global reactions to recent comments by former U.S. President Donald Trump, who accused Nigeria of large-scale persecution of Christians — a claim that Nigerian authorities have repeatedly dismissed as unfounded.
