Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, has raised a sharp warning about the dangers of inflaming religious tensions, stating that the country must avoid falling into the kind of sectarian fragility that split Sudan and left both sides locked in prolonged violence.
Tuggar made the remarks during an interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored, where he responded to international claims suggesting that Christians in Nigeria are being systematically targeted.
He argued that some foreign groups are amplifying divisive narratives without considering their long-term consequences for national cohesion.
According to him, agitation driven by faith-based advocacy groups can become the spark that ignites a wider political fracture.
“We have seen this sort of agitation by faith-based organisations that is prelude to the breaking up of countries,” he said during the interview, warning that such dynamics often begin with messaging that frames a country as fundamentally split along religious lines.
Tuggar referenced Sudan as a cautionary tale, a once-unified nation that fractured after decades of tension between its predominantly Muslim north and largely Christian south.
“We know the playbook,” he explained. “There were agitations to create South Sudan, which is predominantly a Christian country, separate from North Sudan, which is a Muslim country.
“Now we have a situation where there is continuous fighting in South Sudan, and another round is about to kick off, the same thing in North Sudan.”
He stressed that Nigeria must not be pushed toward a similar fate, describing the Sudan experience as a historical reminder of how weaponised narratives can tear countries apart.
“We don’t want to be the next Sudan,” Tuggar insisted, adding that Nigeria’s diversity can only be preserved when both domestic and international observers avoid framing security crises strictly through religious lenses.
Moreover, the minister maintained that many of the attacks being labelled as religious are, in reality, tied to banditry, insurgency, and economic desperation rather than state-led persecution.
He accused external commentators of ignoring Nigeria’s constitutional protections for all faiths and the government’s ongoing efforts to secure vulnerable communities.
Tuggar’s comments come at a moment when global attention on Nigeria’s security challenges is intensifying, especially following advocacy campaigns by international Christian organisations.
His intervention appears aimed at controlling the narrative and preventing what he calls “dangerous oversimplifications” from gaining ground.
The full interview, already generating debate across political and religious circles, adds a new dimension to the conversation around how Nigeria’s internal conflicts are portrayed abroad, and the diplomatic stakes involved.