Secretary of State Mike Pompeo designated the U.S. ally — for the first time — as a "Country of Particular Concern" for religious freedom, alongside nations that include China, Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
Nigeria maintains a delicate balance between Muslims and Christians, but church groups have expressed their rising concerns to the United States.
The State Department did not immediately elaborate on why it designated Nigeria but, in its annual report earlier this year, took note of concerns both at the federal and state levels.
It pointed to the mass detention of members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, a Shiite Muslim group that was banned last year on terrorism allegations.
The Nigerian army killed some 350 Shiites, many of them gunned down or burned alive, in a 2015 confrontation, according to rights groups.
The movement has taken inspiration from Iran, ordinarily a major target for Trump. But the Catholic Church criticized the prohibition on the group, fearing it set a dangerous precedent for all religions.
The State Department report also highlighted the arrests of Muslims for eating in public in Kano state during Ramadan, when Muslims are supposed to fast during daylight hours, and new regulations on preaching in Kaduna state.
Nigeria is the base of Boko Haram, the Islamist extremists whose 11-year insurgency has killed more than 36,000 people and spread to neighboring countries.
But the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, in a letter to Pompeo, said that far more Nigerians were being killed in herder-farmer conflicts, in which Christians have borne the brunt as climate change worsens desertification.
Christian groups have also accused President Muhammadu Buhari of paying insufficient attention after jihadists abducted and killed a pastor, Lawan Andimi.
From France24
Information Minister says it's a misunderstanding....This our country is a wa. Security measures are so not available; The world keeps watching us in particular and our leaders keep digging big holes and keep putting us in them.
ReplyDeleteWe need to get our act irrespective of whatever strata we are in the society; We are the only ones that can save ourselves
Liar Mohammed and Garba Shehu will soon come and defend their olodo master
DeleteThat Garbage man should come and sue them for us
DeleteNawa o. Nigeria has entered every known blacklist in the world now, since APC government
ReplyDeleteHope all of you saw El-Rufai's name written boldly up there? 🙄🙄🙄
ReplyDeleteAnd if you think Biden will change this policy, you have another thing coming...watch this space more sanctions coming up against Nigeria if the leadership doesnt change.
ReplyDeleteNa wa....o it is well with 9ja
ReplyDeleteLiar Mohammed over to you.
ReplyDeleteSee America wey no fit hold free and fair election, wey their president dey turn them to third world countries, a highly racist country dey blacklist another country. Make una swerve abeg.
ReplyDelete