By Jeph Ajobaju A group of United States lawmakers has written a letter to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to reverse his decisio...
By Jeph Ajobaju
A group of United States lawmakers has written a letter to
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to reverse his decision to remove Nigeria
from the list of countries that violate religious freedom.
“We are deeply
troubled by your recent decision to remove Nigeria from the list of Countries
of Particular Concern (CPC).
“This decision is egregious. Your action undermines the
United States’ commitment to protecting international religious freedom,” 12 Congress
members said in the letter dated December 9.
Blinken yanked Nigeria off the list last month to a storm of
criticism from religious rights activists across continents, including
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) based London and US Nigeria Law Group
(USNLG) Managing Partner, Emmanuel Ogebe, based in Washington.
US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF)
also expressed strong opposition to the decision, describing it as “appalling”.
USCIRF said it found it “unexplainable” that the Department
of State did not redesignate Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC)
and treated it as a country with no severe religious freedom violations.
“USCIRF is disappointed that the State Department did not
adopt our recommendations in designating the countries that are the worst
violators of religious freedom,” said USCIRF Chair Nadine Maenza.
US lawmakers argue
against delisting Nigeria
“One of our founding ideals as a nation is to allow citizens
the freedom to practice religion and to maintain that freedom to do so.
“As a result of this core value, we as a nation are
compelled to promote religious freedom around the world and point it out when
other counties are not,” the lawmakers explained in the letter.
“We are deeply troubled by your recent decision to remove
Nigeria from the list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC).
“This decision is egregious. Your action undermines the
United States’ commitment to protecting international religious freedom.
“Nigeria, being the most populous country in Africa, is home
to 80 million professing Christians. Millions of Christians living in Nigeria
face some of the worst acts of persecution, causing many to flee as a result of
the devastating violence.
“Since June of 2015, there have been 11,000 Nigerian
Christians killed by jihadists, radicalized herdsmen from the Fulani tribe and
the emerging Islamic terrorist group, Boko Haram. 1,202 of those killings
happened in the first six months of 2020.
“In 2021 alone, an estimated 3,462 Christians have been
killed.
“We find this decision highly suspect, as it came just days
before your trip to Africa to meet with Nigerian officials. It also goes
directly against the 2021 recommendations for Countries of Particular Concern
(CPC) and Special Watch List (SWL) by United States Commission on International
Religious Freedom (USCIRF).
“Your refusal to listen to the recommendations of the USCIRF
and blatant disregard to the atrocities in Nigeria lacks necessary condemnation
to those currently committing religious persecution abroad.
“We implore you to reconsider this decision.”
The 12 members of the US House of Representatives who signed
the letter are:
Mary Miller
Bob Good
Mark Green
Ralph Norman
Gus Bilirakis
Vicky Hartzler
Tracy Mann
Mo Brooks
Michael Guest
Brian Babin
Louie Gohmert
Laurent Boebert
Dan Bishop
Michael Cloud
Ogebe commends lawmakers’ action
US Nigeria Law Group (USNLG) Managing Partner, Emmanuel
Ogebe, who is based in Washington, commended the lawmakers for urging Blinken
to reverse the religious persecution delisting because it gives Abuja the
“license to kill”.
He thanked the Congressmen and women who took “the bold
step” of calling out Blinken for his “ill-advised” removal of Nigeria from the
list of religious persecutors.
Ogebe said: “Probably no policy position of the US
government on Nigeria has attracted more universal condemnation than this.
“Indeed, the bipartisan US Commission on International
Religious Freedom took the rare step of condemning a fellow US government
office – the U.S. State Department.
“Even members of the British House of Lords in the U.K. have
similarly lampooned Secretary Blinken’s actions as have NGOs all over US,
Europe and Nigeria.
“The action was baseless and amounts to voodoo diplomacy as
even during my latest visit to Nigeria last week, over a dozen Muslim worshippers were reportedly killed and women
raped in mosques while dozens of hapless people were burnt alive in cars.
“Similarly, in addition to the failure of most states to
complete their own #EndSARs investigations, even Lagos state that was hailed
for exposing the truth of the Lekki massacre has now backpedaled and shot
itself in the foot by denying that there was indeed a massacre.
“Accordingly, … Blinken is urged to rethink the license to
kill given to Nigeria especially as we mark the 5th anniversary of the Shiites
massacre in Kaduna state.
“It is not too late to get it right, and Blinken owes it to
humanity and himself not to screw up again this year.”
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