US military intervention did not protect Nigeria's Christians, lawyer says

Families burying in a mass grave their relatives killed in deadly attacks by armed groups in Nigeria's central Plateau State. Photo: KIM MASARA/AFPTV/AFP via Getty Images

On August 13, 2026, Nigerian lawyer and human rights defender Jabez Musa, who defends Christians from persecution, stated that US military intervention did not stop attacks on Christians in Nigeria, reports The Christian Post.

Jabez Musa said that following American airstrikes, militants have re-strategized and the attacks have increased instead in all the regions. And it is now going down to the southern part of Nigeria.

In late 2025, the United States carried out airstrikes against militants linked to the Islamic State in northern Nigeria, and in early 2026 deployed military personnel to assist in counter-terrorism operations. But most U.S. troops were withdrawn from the country last month – a move Musa believes left the intervention incomplete.

The human rights defender also spoke about ongoing kidnappings of Christians. During one attack on a church, militants seized a woman with three children. Although the woman escaped the camp, she lost her daughter to complications from an underlying illness along the way. Musa is also handling cases of girls who, according to him, are being kidnapped, forcibly converted to Islam, and subjected to forced marriage.

Musa accused Nigerian authorities of failing to adequately protect Christian communities and called on the international community to respond more swiftly to what is happening. According to him, people continue to be killed and kidnapped, and many Christians are forced to leave their homes and live in camps for displaced persons.

The UOJ previously reported that a joint wedding was organized in Nigeria for 300 Christian and Muslim couples.

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