The Christian Youth Alliance of Nigeria (CYAN), a coalition of Christian organisations and human rights advocacy groups from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, has warned that the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s continued use of a Muslim-Muslim ticket in the 2027 general election represents the single biggest political threat to the safety of Christians in Nigeria.

The warning was contained in a petition addressed to United States President Donald Trump and copied to the US Secretary of State, members of the US Senate and House of Representatives, as well as heads of diplomatic missions accredited to Nigeria.

The petition, made available to journalists in Jos, Plateau State, said the group was renewing its appeal for sustained American attention to what it described as “the deteriorating security of Christians in Nigeria.”

“We commend the decision to redesignate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), a step whose principal value so far has been to discredit propagandists who worked to portray murdered Christians as casualties of ordinary banditry, rather than what communities on the ground know them to be: targeted religious genocide,” the petition read.

It stated, however, that the CPC designation had not stopped the killings, citing the deaths of “at least 30 Christians… in Naridon community in Kaduna State just this week.”

“As we write today, a political decision unfolding in Abuja threatens to entrench and consolidate the Christian genocide in Nigeria. President Bola Tinubu’s retention of the Muslim-Muslim ticket in the upcoming 2027 election is, in our assessment, the single gravest political threat to the safety of Christians in Nigeria, particularly in the northern region,” it stated.

The group argued that the Tinubu-Shettima ticket in the 2023 election “broke a long-standing convention under which the country’s two highest offices were shared across its religious divide.”

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“This is not just a symbolic grievance, but a palpable one that transcends politics and has led to the exclusion of Christians from governance and matters of faith. It has emboldened jihadist armed groups that already operate with impunity in Christian-dominated communities,” the petition said.

The petition also referenced former Minister Isa Pantami, alleging that Nigeria’s political system “has been willing to elevate and tolerate” individuals who had made extremist statements.

The group further condemned the Federal Government’s policy of reintegrating “repentant terrorists.”

“Under the current Muslim-Muslim presidency, taxes collected from persecuted Christians are budgeted for the rehabilitation and reintegration of jihadists, so-called ‘repentant terrorists’, who are placed on government payrolls, while internally displaced persons (predominantly Christians) are left in ruins,” it said.

CYAN also raised concerns over Nigeria’s lobbying efforts in Washington, citing Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) filings.

“We are also aware that the Nigerian government has retained international lobbying and public relations firms since the CPC redesignation. In December 2025, a Kaduna law firm, Aster Legal, acting on behalf of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, retained the Washington public affairs firm, DCI Group, under a contract reportedly worth nine million dollars, expressly to communicate Nigeria’s protection of Christian communities to American audiences,” the petition stated.

The group added: “We do not object to Nigeria defending its record; we ask only that Congress and the State Department do not allow paid narrative management in Washington to substitute for verified improvements on the ground in Nigeria. The test of progress should be the safety of Christian communities, not the polish, however well-financed, of Abuja’s messaging to American audiences.”

It urged that “the United States maintain Nigeria’s CPC status and condition any relief on independently verified protection of Christian communities, not on the diplomatic or lobbying activities of the Nigerian government.”

The petition was submitted by the Christian Youth Alliance of Nigeria and signed by its Chairman, Zariyi Yusuf Madaki; Secretary, Nasiru Jagaba; Luka Binniyat; Steven Kefas; Ier Jonathan-Ichaver; Apostle Michael Olowookere; and Emmanuel Zopmal, among others.