The United States House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa has given President Donald Trump the green light to impose stringent sanctions on Nigeria in response to the widespread k!lling of Christians in the country.
The decision followed a congressional hearing on Wednesday, March 12. during which lawmakers condemned the Nigerian government for failing to protect Christian communities from escalating violence.
The committee also cited a 2024 report by the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa, which revealed that Nigerians accounted for 90 per cent of all Christians killed worldwide each year.
The report documented that between October 2019 and September 2023, a staggering 55,910 people were killed, while 21,000 others were abducted by terrorist groups operating in the region.
During the hearing, Committee Chairman Chris Smith, who highlighted the severity of the crisis, pointed to testimony from Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of the Diocese of Makurdi, Nigeria, as a viable witness.
He said: “One of our distinguished witnesses today—Bishop Wilfred Anagbe—travelled a long distance to be with us, and his testimony is both compelling and disturbing.
“Militant Fulani herdsmen are terrorists. They steal and vandalise, they kill and boast about it, they kidnap and rape, and they enjoy total impunity from elected officials. None of them have been arrested or brought to justice.”
“Make no mistake – these attacks are religiously motivated,” the report stated, adding: “Denying this reality contradicts the overwhelming evidence we have seen with our own eyes. This ‘religious cleansing’ must stop, and those responsible must be held accountable.”
The congressional panel strongly criticised the Nigerian government for failing to address religiously motivated violence, despite constitutional protections for religious freedom.
Expressing concern that Nigeria’s judicial system had been weaponised to suppress Christian communities, the lawmakers cited cases where blasphemy laws have been used to target religious minorities.
“The Government of Nigeria has made little progress in addressing the persecution of Christians, even though religious freedom is enshrined as a fundamental human right in its Constitution.
“While Nigeria’s legal framework ostensibly supports religious pluralism at both federal and state levels, glaring contradictions persist—particularly in laws that criminalise blasphemy, some of which even carry the death penalty,” the subcommittee’s report stated.
Blaming the previous administration of President Joe Biden for weakening U.S. pressure on Nigeria by removing the country from the Country of Particular Concern (CPC) list, Smith said the designation was originally applied during President Trump’s first term.
He noted that despite four consecutive years of recommendations from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (2021–2024), the Biden administration had failed to reinstate Nigeria’s CPC status.
“Under President Biden, Nigeria was removed from the CPC list, despite overwhelming evidence that religious persecution had worsened. This decision ignored the repeated recommendations of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom,” he said.
He called on President Trump to take decisive action, including restoring Nigeria’s CPC designation and engaging directly with Nigerian President Bola Tinubu to ensure better protection for Christian communities.
“I fully expect President Trump to redesignate Nigeria as a CPC and to take additional steps to support the persecuted church. Last night, I reintroduced a resolution on this issue, and I hope we will have a robust discussion that leads to real action,” he added.
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