Nigeria, Oct. 8 -- Following renewed claims from certain Western voices, including United States Senator Ted Cruz and television host Bill Maher, alleging "Christian persecution" in Nigeria, O'tega Ogra, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Digital Engagement and Strategy, offers this measured response. It reflects the growing insistence within Africa's largest democracy that its story will be told by its own citizens, not rewritten from abroad.

It is remarkable how quickly concern for Nigeria resurfaces whenever some in the West need a new stage for their moral theatre. This time a senator with a well-kept beard and a television comedian have found new applause lines in our pain. Different microphones, same script, same ignoranc...