In a recent interview on his long-form podcast, Tucker Carlson sat down with Robert “Bob” Amsterdam, during which the pugnacious former Fox News host praised Amsterdam as a defender of Christians and someone he consults privately about global attacks on Christian communities.
During their conversation, Amsterdam downplayed some claims of anti-Christian persecution in Nigeria — arguing, for example, that the violence is “tribal and regional, not a government campaign against Christians.”
While he spoke about his long ties to the West African country, Amsterdam did not disclose that he previously worked for Nasir El-Rufai, a Nigerian politician documented by human rights organizations as allegedly persecuting Christians in Kaduna State and imposing preaching regulations widely criticized as discriminatory. Amsterdam’s firm announced in 2009 that it was representing El-Rufai in legal proceedings.
A 2021 report by International Christian Concern, a watchdog on religious persecution, outlined serious accusations against El-Rufai:
It was within a few minutes of sunset—slated for 6:14 that day—on Christmas Eve 2016 when Fulani militants stormed the village of Goska in central Nigeria’s Kaduna State. The assault didn’t last long, but before disappearing into the dim brush surrounding Goska, the Fulani militant attackers managed to burn eighty houses and wound dozens of villagers. Fourteen villagers died, including women and children.
The attack attracted international attention because it happened while Goska was rendered helpless by Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, who, just five days prior, had ordered the residents of the Jema’a Local Government Area (LGA) where Goska is located into complete lockdown.
The lockdown, ostensibly designed to prevent attacks by banning all movement, was enacted after protests of the El-Rufai administration’s lackluster response to violence in Jema’a. The month leading up to the attack saw 102 people killed, 215 injured, and an estimated 50,000 houses burned across twenty-five Christian farming communities in Jema’a, a jurisdiction smaller than the city of Houston. However, El-Rufai’s administration only enforced the Goska lockdown against villagers, who reported that members of nomadic Fulani groups moved about freely in the days leading up to the attack.
Despite international condemnation of the lockdown in Jema’a, El-Rufai has imposed at least six lockdowns since the 2016 attack. In a pattern now all too familiar, villagers protest the lack of security provided by the El-Rufai administration and El-Rufai responds to protesting communities by locking them down. These lockdown orders make it impossible for villagers to organize early warning systems, making militant attacks even more deadly as villagers no longer have the warning they need to flee into the bush.
Isaac Schorr from Mediaite provides more details:
After Carlson asked Amsterdam to give him “the actual truth of Christian persecution in Nigeria” on his show, Amsterdam touted his ties to the current Nigerian government and insisted that the attacks from Islamic terrorists are “not targeted at Christians.”
“Nigeria wants to consult with the United States. Nigeria wants assistance in protecting Christians and Muslims, protecting their populations,” insisted Amsterdam.
“Ted Cruz is upset about what’s happening in Nigeria to Christians. I’m not against him being upset about that. You say it’s much more complicated than he’s presenting. — probably more tribal than religious. I don’t know much about it. But how much has Ted Cruz said about the U.S.-funded destruction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church?” asked Carlson shortly after that.
In addition to representing El-Rufai in a 2009 corruption case, Amsterdam has represented the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, which the Ukrainian government alleges has connections to Russia, the authoritarian regime often praised by Carlson that invaded Ukraine in 2022.
President Donald Trump recently threatened to cut off aid — and even consider U.S. military intervention — to “completely eliminate Islamic terrorists” if Nigeria’s government “fails to protect Christians.”
“If the Nigerian government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the USA will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities,” Trump posted to his social media platform earlier this month.
He added that he had instructed the Department of Defense to prepare for “possible action.”
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth shared Trump’s post on X, replying, “Yes, sir.”
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