Patience Leonard, PBA Journalism MenteeIn a bid to curb growing religious intolerance in Nigeria, five United States Senators have petitioned the Secretary to the Department of State, Anthony Blinken over removal of Nigeria’s designation as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC).
The petition was contained in a memo to Blinken and copied to Hon. Rashad Hussain, the Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom in US.
The petition alluded to the report which documented 4,650 cases of Nigerian Christians persecuted for their faith in 2021.
The five senators – Josh Hawley, Marco Rubio, Mike Braun, James M. Ihofe and Tom Cotton – reminded Secretary Blinken of their 2021 memo in which they had stated “not only has the government of Nigeria failed to take meaningful steps to mitigate such violence, but Nigerian authorities restrict and crack down on religious minorities and detain individuals indefinitely on blasphemy-related charges.”
The senators in the June 29, 2022 document, which was made available to Prime Business Africa late Friday night, quoted the annual report from the bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) for 2022, to the State Department that “Nigerian government authorities directly participate in the persecution of Christians, Muslims, and even non-theists, most notoriously through arrests and convictions under blasphemy laws.”
The appeal which seeks to re-assign Nigeria to a Country of Particular Concern was backed by data of persecuted Christians in the country over the past two years.
It also recounted the ordeal of the Owo massacre in St. Francis Catholic church, Ondo state leaving scores of Catholic worshipers dead on June 5, 2022.
The document further stated that expressing one’s Christian faith has apparently become tantamount to a death sentence in many parts of Nigeria citing the Deborah killing in Sokoto as an example.
Recall that Nigerian government condemned the violent killing of Deborah Emmanuel Yakubu, a victim of angry mob of students suspected to be Islamists in Sokoto, over a statement she made, termed “blasphemous.” Reports stated that Deborah posted on her WhatsApp group chat “Jesus is the greatest, He helped me pass my exams,” which consequently followed her stoning and burning to death in May.
The statement continued: “We remain concerned that the Nigerian government is failing to protect the religious freedom and basic safety of its Christian citizens.
They further addressed the Secretary, “When we previously wrote you, we were met with a response which failed to answer our questions about why the State Department views Nigeria as not having engaged in or tolerated ‘systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom’ or even ‘severe violations of religious freedom.’
“This is unacceptable, especially because you are required by federal law to consider the recommendation of USCIRF—which, since 2009, has been to designate Nigeria as a CPC.
“In fact, USCIRF reiterated in its 2022 Annual Report that it was “appalled” at the removal of Nigeria’s CPC designation. Despite public statements from you and other State Department officials condemning the recent bloodshed in Nigeria, the fact remains that the Department still does not officially regard Nigeria as a severe violator of religious freedom.”
Blinken was reminded that: ther“State Department released its 2021 Report on International Religious Freedom on June 2, which starts the 90-day timeline for the Department to make its religious freedom designations. Given the abysmal state of religious freedom in Nigeria, it is incumbent upon you to reverse last year’s decision and redesignate the country as a CPC. The moment demands that you do so without delay.”
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