US Congressman Riley Moore says he will deliver a detailed report to President Donald Trump after leading a five-member congressional delegation to Nigeria on a fact-finding mission focused on insecurity and alleged religious persecution.
Gatekeepers News reports that Moore, a Republican lawmaker, revealed that the delegation travelled through Benue State in armoured vehicles due to security threats, where they met victims of attacks, Christian associations and religious leaders. In an interview on Fox News and posts shared on X, he said the visit was aimed at gathering first-hand evidence of violence affecting Christian communities.
“This mission was part of our report. This was a fact-finding mission. There were five members of Congress in total who went there. We went to Benue State, which is one of the most dangerous states in Nigeria. This is where all the Christians, a majority of them, are being murdered for their faith in Jesus Christ,” he said.
“But I felt that we had to go there. So we went in armoured vehicles with security and went there and visited with these people, visited with these Christians, Christian associations, Bishop Anagbe, the Catholic Church, and Protestant leaders as well, and got the ground truth that we’re going to go report back to the president.”
Moore added that Trump had directed him and House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole to compile recommendations.
“He’s asked me and Chairman Tom Cole to give him a report and report back to him. And we’re going to do that by the end of this month,” he said.
Survivors’ Harrowing Accounts
Moore described testimonies from internally displaced persons (IDP) camps as “shocking.”
“It was really shocking. The stories that we heard, the imagery, I’ve never witnessed anything like that personally in my life,” he said.
He recalled meeting a woman who “lost her entire family. Five of her children were murdered right in front of her. She was pregnant at the time and was able to escape. She had that child in an internally displaced camp.”
Another survivor, he said, lost her husband and two daughters, while her unborn child was “murdered” during an attack.
“These Islamic terrorists murdered her unborn child and took it right out of her,” he claimed.
Moore also criticised ongoing assaults on displacement camps, dismissing claims that the conflict is driven mainly by environmental or economic factors.
“They’re in IDP camps. But the Fulani, these Islamic radicals, are attacking the IDP camps. They’re attacking them in the camps,” he said.
“For those who say this is about climate change and land and things like that… why would you burn down a church? Why would you attack an IDP camp screaming Allahu Akbar? They’re trying to erase the Christians in Benue State and around Nigeria from their ancestral homeland.”
Meetings With NSA, Clergy and Traditional Rulers
The delegation also met Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, in Abuja to discuss counter-terrorism, insecurity and regional stability. Ribadu said the talks built on earlier engagements in Washington.
Moore met with several traditional and religious leaders, including Bishop Wilfred Anagbe, Bishop Isaac Dugu and Tor Tiv V, James Ioruza.
He also praised the Nigerian government for the recent rescue of 100 abducted children in Niger State, calling it “a positive indication” of President Bola Tinubu’s security efforts.
Moore confirmed that a joint task force has been established between the US State Department and Nigerian authorities to address concerns about alleged religious persecution.
His visit, however, comes amid renewed diplomatic tensions following the US designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), a classification the Nigerian government has strongly rejected.
