A heated confrontation took place on Piers Morgan’s show as Yusuf Tuggar, minister of foreign affairs, clashed with Goldie Ghamari, a former Canadian lawmaker, over claims of Christian persecution in Nigeria.
Tuggar appeared on the programme, which aired Tuesday, to counter the allegations, clarify data, add context, and address Nigeria’s multifaceted security situation.
In the first 16 minutes, Morgan cited statistics from the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) alleging that over 50,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria since 2009 and 18,000 churches destroyed.
Tuggar dismissed the numbers as incorrect and rejected the religious framing, explaining that the government does not record deaths by faith and considers all victims first and foremost as Nigerians.
When pushed for specifics, the minister said only 177 Christians were killed and 102 churches attacked in the last five years.
The exchange grew more intense when Morgan introduced Ghamari as a second guest.
The Canadian politician and talk-show host claimed that Nigeria’s insecurity represents a form of jihad, linking it to the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
She also pointed to the shared Islamic faith of President Bola Tinubu and Vice-President Kashim Shettima as “evidence” of an Islamist administration complicit in the ongoing violence.
“By the way, this is a government that is working closely behind the scenes with the Islamic Republic of Iran. You should ask the foreign minister why Nigerian school children are holding pictures of the Ayatollah who is a brutal dictator and is murdering my people in Iran,” she said.
“People need to look into the linkages between the current Nigerian government and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
“I was a politician for seven years, Piers, and I can tell when someone is lying and avoiding the truth. That’s exactly what this foreign minister is doing and shame on him for lying.”
‘YOU ARE A DISGRACE TO CANADA’
Tuggar described Ghamari’s remarks as uninformed and dismissed her statements as rambling.
He accused the former MP of making careless claims from afar and treating Nigerian lives as if they were part of a political game.
Speaking on Tinubu and Shettima’s religion, the minister stressed that Nigerians prioritise regional balance over faith—Tinubu being from the south and Shettima from the north.
When Morgan asked if he condemned attacks on Christians by Islamist militants, Tuggar said yes.
“I lost my father-in-law to an attack by an Islamic terrorist group, Boko Haram, so I myself I’m a victim. I’ve lost family members to attacks and they were Muslims,” the minister said.
“But it doesn’t matter whether they’re Muslim or Christian because their aim is to kill, to maim, so that they would achieve their objectives. And the number one enemy of Boko Haram is not a Christian. It is a Muslim who does not subscribe to their own brand of Islam.”
Morgan then invited Ghamari to respond. She argued that the killing of Muslims does not “negate the fact that there is a targeted ethnic cleansing of Christians in Nigeria”.
Tuggar countered sharply:
“People like her trade in starting wars in far away places where they have no contact, they have no understanding of, and they can do that from their armchairs from a safe distance. It’s a real life situation.”
“This lady would not know the difference between a Fulani man, a Tiv man, an Igbo man if they stood in front of her.
“But you can see clearly overnight because it pays. She’s probably making money out of it. She is out there trying to start a war.
“They want to break up Nigeria the same way they broke up Sudan and now they’ve run away. She’s not talking about Sudan anymore. She’s not talking about South Sudan. I bet she was one of those that was agitating for Sudan to be dismembered.
“This is what they do. This is what they try to do to Africa. Nigeria is the largest country on the African continent. It is the largest shock absorber to the African continent in terms of admitting migrants, in terms of freedom of religion. It’s Africa’s largest democracy.
“But people like you who don’t really care about freedoms, about the freedoms of either Christians or Muslims or Africans will continue to agitate for the break up of Nigeria for war the same way that it’s happening in South Sudan and you’ve kept mum because you’ve moved on.
“You don’t care about the loss of lives. For you, it’s just another black country to be broken up. You don’t care who dies.
“It’s not going to happen to Nigeria. Move on to your next project. You’re a disgrace. You’re a disgrace to the Canadian nation. I’m shocked that you say that you actually practice as a politician in Canada. Move on to the next episode. Leave us alone.”
Morgan concluded the interview shortly afterward.