A pan-African think tank, the African Sociocultural Harmony and Enlightenment Foundation (ASHE Foundation), has advised U.S. President Donald Trump and the global community to address the root causes of the Christian genocide in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, noting that without doing so, the violence will continue as part of ongoing Abrahamic imperialism across Africa.

Prince Justice Faloye, president of ASHE, explains that the genocide is linked to British colonisation. The British divided the original African civilisation and placed the Middlebelt under the Northern Afro-Asiatic Islamic Protectorate rather than the Southern Protectorate, weakening indigenous groups politically and socially. This policy, according to him, created exclusion and unrepresentative governance, leading to the current violence.

According to Faloye, British colonial policies divided the indigenous African civilisation, politically subordinating the Middle Belt, home to over 300 ethnic groups, to the Northern Islamic protectorate rather than the Southern protectorate, which was culturally led by the Ooni of Ife. The “policide” or political negation created exclusionary governance and paved the way for systemic oppression.

Faloye also highlights “epistemicide,” the suppression of traditional African knowledge systems, which undermined the identity of the original African civilisation centred in Ile Ife. He notes that Abrahamic religions ignore this ancient civilisation, which is based on a spiritual and scientific system called Ifa. This civilisation, dating back around 14,000 years, influenced many world religions and is older than others by thousands of years.

The statement traces how Afro-Asiatic groups and European colonisers disrupted and weakened indigenous African kingdoms. The British and northern Islamic leaders worked together to control indigenous peoples politically and economically, fueling ethnic divisions. Southern groups were divided into rival tribes, while the North gained more power and used violence to suppress the South.

Faloye stresses that the true resolution lies in restructuring Nigeria’s governance to recognise indigenous African federating units, empowering groups like the Middlebelt with self-governance and local policing powers, adding that the change would reflect a new era of justice and democracy after centuries of oppression.

In summary, ASHE Foundation calls for recognising indigenous rights, restoring traditional identities, and changing Nigeria’s political structure to stop the ongoing genocide and support lasting peace in the region.