United States lawmaker, Riley Moore, has responded to the abduction of schoolgirls from Government Secondary School, Maga, in Kebbi State’s Danko-Wasagu Local Government Area.
In a post shared on X on Tuesday, Moore condemned the attack and called for prayers for the victims.
“Please join me in praying for the 25 girls who have been kidnapped and for the repose of the soul of their vice principal, who was killed,” he wrote.
Further commenting on the incident, Moore said, “While we don’t have all the details on this horrific attack, we know that the attack occurred in a Christian enclave in Northern Nigeria.”
He also urged authorities to take action, adding, “The Nigerian government must do more to end the rampant violence.”
The assault took place in the early hours of Monday when heavily armed bandits raided the school, killing the vice principal, injuring staff members, and abducting 25 students.
However, Moore’s description of the location sparked significant backlash.
A former Senior Special Assistant on New Media to the late President Muhammadu Buhari, Bashir Ahmad, challenged the lawmaker’s statement in the comments.
“While appreciating your concern and praying for our sisters, it is important to correct a crucial detail here — the attack did not occur in a Christian enclave,” Ahmad wrote.
He added, “It happened within a Muslim community, and the victims themselves were Muslims. This is precisely why we keep saying that even you, Americans, either do not understand the complexity of Nigeria’s insecurity challenges, or you are deliberately pushing unholy narratives that risk worsening our already fragile unity.”
The exchange comes amid ongoing debates between Nigerian and US officials over allegations of “Christian genocide” in parts of the country — a narrative consistently rejected by Nigerian authorities.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has assured that it is working to secure the safe return of the abducted students, expressing deep concern and emphasizing that it “shares in the pain of the victims” while striving to bring the girls home safely.
