A startling New York Times investigation has exposed how reports by Emeka Umeagbalasi, a screwdriver trader based in Onitsha, Anambra State, influenced U.S. policy decisions that culminated in airstrikes on Nigerian territory.
According to the report, the United States relied on information and claims from Umeagbalasi — founder of the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) — in assessing allegations of widespread killings of Christians in Nigeria.
In October, U.S. President Donald Trump redesignated Nigeria as a “country of particular concern”, citing claims of a Christian genocide.
“Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed,” Trump said, blaming radical Islamists for the “mass slaughter”.
A month later, Trump raised the stakes, threatening that the U.S. department of war would move in “guns-a-blazing” to wipe out Islamic terrorists if Nigeria failed to act.
By December 26, U.S. forces launched airstrikes against ISIS targets in north-western Sokoto State, an operation carried out “at the request of Nigerian authorities”.
The New York Times described Umeagbalasi as “an unlikely source of research that U.S. Republican lawmakers have used to promote the misleading idea that Christians are being singled out for slaughter” in Nigeria.
Umeagbalasi reportedly runs Intersociety from his home with his wife. His work has been repeatedly cited by U.S. lawmakers Riley Moore and Ted Cruz, as well as New Jersey congressman Chris Smith — all tasked by Trump to probe the genocide allegations.
He claimed to have documented 125,000 Christian deaths since 2009, relying on Google searches, Nigerian media reports, secondary sources, and advocacy groups such as Open Doors.
However, he admitted that he rarely verifies his data, seldom travels to affected regions, and often assumes victims’ religion based on attack locations.
“If a mass abduction or killing happens in an area where he thinks many Christians live, he assumes the victims are Christians,” the report noted.
Defending his methods in an interview with The Sun, Umeagbalasi cited “location and space of an incident or crime scene”, calling it “one of the oldest natural methods in the world”.
The trader, who claims degrees in security studies and peace and conflict resolution from the National Open University of Nigeria, described himself as a very “powerful” and “knowledgeable” investigator.
Labelled an expert in the report, the self-acclaimed criminologist alleged a “strategy to annihilate all Christians and Islamize Nigeria”.
He further claimed Nigeria has 100,000 churches, with about 20,000 destroyed in 16 years. Asked about the source, he replied simply: “I Googled it”.
The New York Times concluded that Trump’s yuletide airstrikes were largely influenced by information supplied by three U.S. congressmen who repeatedly relied on Umeagbalasi’s controversial data.
