United States Congressman Riley Moore says he plans to present a full report to President Donald Trump after leading a five-member congressional team to Nigeria to investigate insecurity and reports of religious persecution.
Moore, a Republican lawmaker, explained that the delegation had to move around Benue State in armoured vehicles because of security concerns.
The lawmaker said that while there, they met people affected by violence, church groups, and religious leaders.
Speaking in an interview shared on X, Moore said the goal of the trip was to gather direct information about attacks on Christian communities.
He said, “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.
“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.”
The lawmaker added that Trump had instructed him and House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole to prepare 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.
Moore described the accounts he heard in camps for displaced people as heartbreaking.
“It was really shocking. The stories that we heard, the imagery, I’ve never witnessed anything like that personally in my life. I met one woman who had 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. You could just see that her soul had literally left her body. And there are countless stories like this,” he said.
Narrating another case, he said, “Another woman was attacked. Her family was attacked. She lost her husband, her two daughters. And they murdered her unborn child. These Islamic terrorists murdered her unborn child and took it right out of her.”
Moore strongly criticised continued assaults on displacement camps, saying the violence cannot be explained away by economic or environmental factors.
“They’re in IDP camps. But the Fulani, these Islamic radicals, are attacking the IDP camps. They’re attacking them in the camps. And for those who say this is about climate change and land and things like that, and economically driven, why would you burn down a church?
“Why would you attack an IDP camp? Screaming Allahu Akbar. I think that it’s very clear what the answer is there. They’re trying to erase the Christians in Benue State and around Nigeria from their ancestral homeland,” he lamented.
During the visit, the delegation met with National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu in Abuja to discuss terrorism, security challenges, and regional stability.
Moore and his team also met traditional and religious leaders, including Bishop Wilfred Anagbe, Bishop Isaac Dugu, and Tor Tiv V James Ioruza.
He commended the Nigerian Government for rescuing 100 kidnapped children in Niger State, calling it a positive sign of President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to tackling insecurity.
Moore also confirmed that the US State Department and Nigerian authorities have created a joint task force to address reported cases of religious persecution.
His visit, however, came at a time of renewed tension between both countries following the US decision to list Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern—an action the Nigerian Government disputes.
I just returned from a Congressional delegation to Nigeria with @HouseAppropsGOP. While there, we visited Benue State.
We met with Bishops Anagbe and Dugu and Tor Tiv. We met with suffering IDPs who are all Christians. They are forced to live in camps that are regularly… pic.twitter.com/pMRpYhNMWW
— Rep. Riley M. Moore (@RepRileyMoore) December 11, 2025
KanyiDaily recalls that a heated exchange played out on Piers Morgan’s show when Nigeria’s foreign affairs minister, Yusuf Tuggar, and former Canadian lawmaker Goldie Ghamari clashed over claims that Christians are being persecuted in Nigeria.
