United State Representative for West Virginia’s 2nd District in Congress, Riley M Moore is drawing the attention of the Secretary of State Marco Rubio to the incessant and needless persecutions of Christians in Nigeria, making the country the world’s center of Christian martyrs.
In his letter to the congress of the United State addressed to Rubio, he argued that the state bears a unique obligation to stand for the freedom and protection of Christians worldwide, thereby urging the congress to halt the sales of arms and all associated technical support to Nigerian government till there is an end to the persecution of Christians.
Riley calls on Rubio to designate ‘Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern’ –CPC–while accusing the government of the said country of involvement in some of the attack.
Part of his letter read: “in Northern state such as Kano, regional government has backed and facilitated the closing of Christian orphanages and forced the children to be reeducated as Muslims
“The Nigeria federal government also maintains and enforces anti-blasphemy laws and several state within Nigeria have even harsher anti-blasphemy law than the federal government, this includes sentencing an individual to 24 years in prison for insulting the Prophet Mohammed
“The Nigerian government has sought to downplay the genocides of Christians arguing that Nigeria has a broader issue with terrorism that affect people of all faith. While Nigerians of all faith face terrorism at the hand of extremists, Christians are far and away the most targeted for persecution and violence.”
The U.S Rep urge Rubio to unlock diplomatic levers to protect “our brothers and sisters in Christ”
Backing his letter up, he explained that President Trump designated Nigeria as a CPC at the end of his first administration, however the former President Biden undid the designation.
“We can’t turn a blind eye as our brothers and sisters in faith face martyrdom for proclaiming the name of Christ. We must designate Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern.” Riley summated
Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country, and its Christians are approximately three-quarters Protestant, and one-quarter Roman Catholic. The north of the country remains predominantly Muslim, but the Christian minority is considerable.
Violence against the Nigerian Christian population is significantly localized in the north, where twelve Muslim-majority states declared sharia law in 1999, resulting in huge numbers of Christians experiencing daily discrimination.
It was the rise of an extremist movement called Boko Haram, which first started its murderous attacks in 2009, that resulted in Christians experiencing unprecedented violence.
Since Boko Haram’s insurgency more than 50,000 Christians have been murdered and more than 5 million have been displaced.
At least 250 priests have been attacked or killed in the last decade. More than 19,000 churches have been attacked or destroyed since 2009– averaging three per day.
The violence has resulted in refugees now numbering over four million, mostly Christian farmers.
By: Adeoye Olorunseun Elizabeth