In light of the ongoing Christian persecution in Nigeria and elsewhere, one of President Donald Trump’s nominated ambassadors is prepared to uphold religious freedom around the world for all faiths.
Mark Walker, who was nominated in April to lead the State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom, spoke on the Nigerian crisis in an interview with the Washington Examiner. If confirmed by the Senate, the ambassador-designate anticipates Nigeria will be among the countries he visits to address violations of religious freedom.
The Nigerian government stresses it’s doing everything possible to protect Christians from Islamic terrorists, but Walker argues the country is not doing enough.
“The numbers just don’t simply add up,” he said, explaining that Christians are murdered at a 5:1 rate compared to those of other religions. This wouldn’t be the case if Nigeria swiftly responded to the threat that Islamic terrorists pose to its population, Christian or otherwise.
“The Nigerian military wants to tell you they’re combating Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province in the north,” he added, “but the Nigerian security forces do very little to stop the violence at the hands of these Fulani ethnic militias there in the Middle Belt.”
In many cases, Walker says, Christians are provided with single-shot cartridge guns for self-defense. However, the weapons provide very little advantage against attackers armed with automatic rifles.
Violence targeting Christians in Nigeria has been an issue for years. At least 50,000 Christians have been murdered in the West African nation since 2009, according to lower estimates made by human rights groups and lawmakers. Others show as many as 100,000 Christians killed in the past 16 years. This year alone, more than 7,000 Christians have been killed in targeted attacks.
Earlier this week, masked gunmen killed at least two people at a Pentecostal church in central Nigeria and kidnapped the pastor along with several others.
The incident is one out of many examples that have caught the Trump administration’s eye.
The situation in Nigeria recently made news headlines when Trump designated Nigeria as a country of particular concern for religious freedom violations, reversing the Biden administration’s decision to drop the designation. Walker says Trump was “100% correct” in redesignating Nigeria.
The United States made its point more forcefully this week when Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, called the massacre of thousands of Christians in Nigeria a “genocide.” Although he recognizes the term should be used sparingly, Walker agrees with its use in this case because the religiously motivated killings predate 2025.
Countering the Trump administration’s characterization, an adviser to Nigerian President Bola Tinubu said claims of a targeted Christian genocide are a “hoax.”
While acknowledging there are mass killings in Nigeria, “the difference is we object to the illusion that the killing is targeting a religion,” Daniel Bwala told the South African Broadcasting Corporation.
“The whole idea of a Christian genocide is a hoax,” Bwala added. He made a similar argument in a video interview with Russian state-controlled media outlet RT.
Joining Waltz in solidarity at a U.N. event, rapper Nicki Minaj passionately spoke about the persecution of Christians in Nigeria and thanked Trump for taking “urgent action” on the crisis. Walker commended Minaj for using her celebrity platform to speak out on the atrocity.
Nigeria is one of approximately 19 countries that Walker plans to review for spikes in religious freedom violations. He is also concerned about Christians dying in mass violence in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as an increase in the number of anti-conversion laws in India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
More hostile countries, such as China and North Korea, will be difficult for the United States to gain access to, but the aspiring ambassador remains hopeful.
“We’ll go in, meet with these people, come back, report that, and give our best information and feedback to the Secretary of State and President Trump on these areas that we feel are increasing,” he said.
“President Trump is certainly within his rights to be able to talk about some of the hot spots, where there seems to be such a huge ratio of Christians versus other religious minorities that are being persecuted or murdered for their faith,” he added.
Walker said he is grateful Trump is defending all people of faith, and he looks forward to doing the same if and when the Senate confirms him.
The nominee first needs to attend a confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which has not yet scheduled his hearing based on the committee’s calendar. If approved by the panel, he will then proceed to a final vote in the Senate.
Walker anticipates the confirmation process will wrap up sometime next month. His predecessor, Rashad Hussain, was confirmed on Dec. 16, 2021, after being nominated by former President Joe Biden on July 30, 2021. It’s been seven months since Walker’s nomination.
The ambassador-designate has drawn support from 40 faith leaders, who urged Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman James Risch (R-ID) to advance Walker toward confirmation. Their letter arrived late last month when the government shutdown was still in effect.
Walker previously served as a Republican congressman representing North Carolina’s 6th Congressional District from 2015 to 2021 and, before that, as a Baptist pastor.
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The position of Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom was created by a bipartisan bill signed by former President Bill Clinton in 1998. Walker is poised to become the seventh person to hold the post, and, like most of his predecessors, he has a Christian background.
The bipartisan legislation charges each given ambassador to “get out there and bring attention to places where people are being put in prison and, even worse, persecuted and killed simply because of their faith,” he said. “We’re excited about getting out there and advocating for those who cannot advocate for themselves.”
