Sean Nelson, ADF legal counsel, previously told CNA that the CCP list is “the most powerful tool the U.S. government has to influence the state of religious freedom in other countries.”
For years, Nigeria has been recognized by religious rights groups as one of the most dangerous countries in the world for Christians. According to International Open Days 4,998 Christians were killed in Nigeria in 2023, meaning 82% of all Christians killed for their faith last year were in Nigeria.
In late January, Nigerian Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of the Makurdi diocese told CNA that the persecution amounted to The Christian “genocide” in which the goal of radical Islamic groups is to “systematically” eliminate Nigeria’s Christian population.
Despite this, the Biden administration has left Nigeria off the CCP list for the past three years. This year, the administration’s decision to remove Nigeria from the list came just weeks after a series of attacks at Christmas left more than 200 Nigerian Christians dead.
Smith said in a statement Wednesday that the Nigerian government “allowed widespread killings and violence through indifference and a blatant failure to protect victims and prosecute Islamist terrorists” and that the U.S. State Department “does not does not use all available tools to hold perpetrators accountable. .”
“Following the Biden administration’s repeated failure to designate Nigeria as a country of particular concern despite widespread outcry, we are grateful to members of Congress who are taking these vital steps to increase pressure on Nigeria for its egregious violations of religious freedom,” Nelson said. in a press release Wednesday.
