A New York Times investigation has revealed that U.S. airstrikes in Nigeria were influenced by intelligence originating from a screwdriver trader and small-scale NGO operator based in Onitsha, Anambra State, raising concerns about the quality and verification of information used to justify American military action.
According to the report, Emeka Umeagbalasi emerged as a key source whose claims of a widespread Christian genocide in Nigeria were repeatedly cited by U.S. lawmakers. The Times described Umeagbalasi as the owner of a tiny shop selling screwdrivers and wrenches in Onitsha’s main market, who also runs a little-known non-governmental organisation that publishes reports on religious violence.
The newspaper reported that Umeagbalasi told its journalists he had documented about 125,000 Christian deaths in Nigeria since 2009. He said the figures were compiled through Google searches, Nigerian media reports, secondary sources and advocacy groups such as Open Doors. He admitted that the data was rarely verified and that he often assumed the religion of victims based on the dominant faith in the area where attacks occurred. “If a mass abduction or killing happens in an area where he thinks many Christians live, he assumes the victims are Christians,” the Times quoted him as saying.
Umeagbalasi also claimed that 20,000 of Nigeria’s estimated 100,000 churches had been destroyed over the past 16 years, a figure he said he arrived at by “Googling it.” Despite the lack of rigorous verification, his reports were cited by prominent U.S. politicians, including Senator Ted Cruz, Representative Riley Moore and Representative Chris Smith. The New York Times noted that even former U.S. President Donald Trump referenced such claims in statements used to justify a tougher stance on Nigeria.
The revelations come against the backdrop of escalating actions by the United States linked to allegations of Christian persecution in Nigeria. In October, Trump redesignated Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” over alleged mass killings of Christians. In November, he warned that the U.S. military would intervene “guns-a-blazing” if Nigeria failed to address what he described as genocide. On December 26, U.S. forces carried out airstrikes on alleged ISIS targets in Sokoto State, an operation said to have been conducted at the request of Nigerian authorities.
The report has reignited debate over the ethics and risks of basing foreign policy and military operations on unverified or politically charged data. Analysts warn that reliance on questionable intelligence can lead to misdirected strikes, potential civilian casualties and the distortion of complex security challenges into simplistic religious narratives that may fuel sectarian tensions.
Nigeria continues to grapple with serious security threats from multiple armed groups, including Boko Haram and other jihadist factions that have attacked both Christian and Muslim communities for more than a decade. While U.S. military operations in the country are rare and typically coordinated with Nigerian authorities, the investigation underscores how the credibility of such actions depends heavily on the accuracy and reliability of the intelligence that informs them.
