Insecurity: US Congressman Riley Moore To Brief Trump On Nigeria Visit

United States Congressman Riley Moore says he will submit a detailed report to President Donald Trump after leading a five-member congressional delegation to Nigeria for a fact-finding mission on insecurity and religious persecution.

Moore, a Republican lawmaker, disclosed that the delegation travelled through Benue State in armoured vehicles due to security threats, meeting victims of attacks, Christian associations, and religious leaders.

In an interview on Fox News, he shared on X, Moore said the mission aimed to gather first-hand evidence on the violence affecting Christian communities.

“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,” he said.

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

The lawmaker added that Trump had directed him and House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole to compile 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.

READ ALSO: US Congressman Riley Moore Visits Tor Tiv, Catholic Bishops

Moore described the testimonies he heard in the internally displaced persons (IDP) camps as “shocking”.

“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.”

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 criticised continued assaults on displacement camps, rejecting explanations that the conflict is solely driven by environmental or economic 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, Moore and the delegation met the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, in Abuja to discuss counter-terrorism, insecurity, and regional stability.

Ribadu said the talks were built on earlier engagements held in Washington.

Moore also visited traditional and religious leaders, including Bishop Wilfred Anagbe, Bishop Isaac Dugu, and Tor Tiv V James Ioruza.

Earlier, Moore praised the Nigerian Government for the rescue of 100 abducted children in Niger State, calling it “a positive indication” of President Bola Tinubu’s security efforts.

He confirmed that a joint task force has been established between the US State Department and Nigerian authorities to address concerns about alleged religious persecution.

However, his visit occurred amid renewed diplomatic tensions stemming from the US designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), a move the Federal Government rejects.