Skip to main content

REVEALED: Why United States Adds Nigeria To Blacklist On Religious Freedom

The United States Government, for the first time, placed Nigeria on a religious freedom blacklist, as Christian and Islamic groups in the country voice out a growing concern on insecurity and repression.

The US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, had on Monday designated Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” for religious freedom, the rare inclusion of a fellow democracy in the US effort to shame nations into action.

President Donald Trump and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari during a joint press conference in the Rose Garden of the White House on April 30, 2018, in Washington.

Saul Loeb / AFP – Getty Images


The State Department, in its annual report earlier this year, gave some reasons why Nigeria should be designated, against the background of concerns, both at the federal and state levels.

Pompeo announced the inclusion of Nigeria in the religion violations list on Twitter.

See Also

Breaking News

BREAKING: US Adds Nigeria To Blacklist On Religious Freedom

0 Comments

11 Hours Ago


“Today the US designates Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, Nigeria, the DPRK, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan as countries of concern under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 for engaging systematic, ongoing, egregious religious freedom violations.

“The US is unwavering in its commitment to religious freedom. No country or entity should be allowed to persecute people with impunity because of their beliefs. These annual designations show that when religious freedom is attacked, we will act,” he had said. 

The recent announcement might not be unconnected with gross abuse of religious rights by the Muhammadu Buhari government.

The State Department, in its annual report, pointed to the mass detention of members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria. This Shiite Muslim group was banned last year on terrorism allegations.

There are also concerns that the Nigerian Army killed some 350 Shiites, many of them gunned down or burned alive, in a 2015 confrontation, according to rights groups.

The Islamic movement has taken inspiration from Iran, ordinarily a significant target for Trump. But the Catholic Church criticised the prohibition on the group, fearing it set a dangerous precedent for all religions.

According to AFP, the State Department 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.

Also, Nigeria is the base of Boko Haram, the Islamist extremists whose 11-year insurgency has killed more than 36,000 people and spread to neighbouring countries.

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.

The International Committee on Nigeria, an advocacy group, has urged the United States to appoint a special envoy, calling the Buhari government’s response to the violence “weak” and voicing fear it will worsen.

Politics

United States of America

News

Reports

AddThis

: 

Original Author

: 

SaharaReporters, New York

Disable advertisements

: 

from 24HRSNEWS
via 24HRSNEWS



from EDUPEDIA247https://ift.tt/3lRYRIV
via EDUPEDIA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nigerian Academy Of Science Inducts First Female President

The Nigerian Academy of Science has inducted a professor of Parasitology/Epidemiology, Ekanem Ikpi Braide, as its 19th President on Thursday. In a statement issued by Oladoyin Odubanjo, the Executive Secretary of the Academy, Braide is the Academy’s first female President in 44 years of existence. It read, “Braide was a member of the national committee that achieved the laudable feat of guinea worm eradication in Nigeria. “She has a rich professional experience as a researcher and an administrator. In July 2010, Professor Braide was honoured by the President of Nigeria with the award of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) for her contribution to disease control in Nigeria. “She was nominated by the Honourable Minister of Health to serve in the Ministerial Expert Advisory Committee on COVID-19 Health Sector Response (MEACoC-HSR). “Professor Braide served as Vice-Chancellor, Cross River University of Technology (CRUTECH) Calabar, Nigeria (2004 to 2009) and as P...
Post a Comment
Read more

NLNG Signs Letter Of Intent On Delayed Gas Expansion Project

The Nigerian Natural Liquefied Gas LTD has signed a letter of intent for the engineering, procurement and construction of its long held up Train Seven project. In a statement released by the company on Wednesday, it said that the $10bn project will be executed by a consortium of Italian firm Saipem, Japan’s Chiyoda and South Korea’s Daewoo. The statement reads, “The project will form part of the investment of over $10bn including the upstream scope of the LNG value chain, thereby boosting the much needed Foreign Direct Investment profile of Nigeria.” Managing Director of NLNG, Tony Atta, said in 2018 that the Final Investment Decision would be made in the fourth quarter of that year. This did not however, materialize. According to the release, the project will have a four to five-year execution time after the signing of the FID. The project is expected to add an extra 8 million tons per annum of gas to the 22 mtpa currently exported by the company. Oil News AddThis :...
Post a Comment
Read more

Former Maritime Agency Boss, Buba Galadima, Accuses AMCON Of Witch-hunt After Property Takeover

  A former Director-General of the Nigeria Maritime Agency, Buba Galadima, has accused the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria of witch-hunt after the agency took possession of his business and assets on Tuesday in Abuja. Galadima, an ardent critic of President Muhammadu Buhari, claimed that he did not borrow money or have unpaid debt with Unity Bank, which lodged a complaint against him and occasioned AMCON’s move on Tuesday. The properties taken over include House No. 15, Addis Ababa Crescent, Wuse Zone 4, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and House No. 4, Bangui Street, Wuse 2, also in Abuja.  Reacting to the situation, Galadima said, “This is an attempt to disgrace and break me down. This is injustice and an attempt to humiliate me. "But I am unbreakable and they can never silence me. They sacked me and over 50 people that sleep in the apartment. "We don’t know where to go. We will remain on the streets. We will remain on the streets until God provi...
Post a Comment
Read more