In a departure from usual practice, United States (US) President Donald Trump announced his decision to designate Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 via a post on social media on 31 October, with a subsequent post warning of aid suspension and military intervention if mass killings of Christians by extremists continue.
In an initial post released on his Truth Social platform, and later posted on the White House X (formerly Twitter) account, the president asserted that ‘Radical Islamists’ were responsible for the ‘mass slaughter’ of thousands of Christians. In the second post, issued on 1 November, he warned that if the killings continued, the US would cut all ‘aid and assistance’ and potentially descend on Nigeria ‘guns-a-blazing’, with the Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth responding by stating his department was making preparations for an armed intervention in the event the Nigerian government fails to protect the Christian community.
CPC designation occurs when a government is deemed to engage in or tolerate ‘systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom’, and is aimed at encouraging it to address them. While the law requires the president to make the designation, the authority to do so is usually delegated to the secretary of state, who generally announces the full annual list of CPCs, Special Watch List countries, and Entities of Particular Concern in November or December.
In October the CEOs of CSW-Nigeria, CSW UK and CSW USA wrote to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio appealing for the redesignation of Nigeria as a CPC, ‘and subsequently, for the US government to assist, persuade, and whenever necessary, pressure current and future Nigerian administrations to protect vulnerable communities, to hold both past and current sponsors and perpetrators of religious violence and discrimination accountable, to address policies and practices that discriminate on religious grounds, and to trace and target the financial activities that enable religious freedom violations, as well as the individuals behind them.’
The Nigerian authorities responded by declaring that the ‘characterisation of Nigeria as religiously intolerant’ did not ‘take into consideration the consistent and sincere efforts of the government to safeguard freedom of religion and beliefs for all Nigerians’. They added: ‘Nigeria opposes religious persecution and does not encourage it.’
However, in addition to a system of religion-based repression and discrimination predating independence that persists in Shari’a states, Nigeria also faces multifaceted and mounting security challenges from several armed non-state actors, including several which are either driven by religious extremism, or instrumentalise religion and/or ethnicity as rallying points, such as Boko Haram, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), Ansaru, Lakurawa and Mahmuda.
In addition, mass killings by an irregular armed group, or militia, comprising members of Fulani ethnicity has been underway in central Nigeria since March 2010, but increased exponentially in 2015, as the progressively well-armed militia targeted Christian farming communities in Adamawa, Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau and Taraba states and the southern part of Kaduna state, among others, with mass killings, forced displacement, and abductions for ransom. Insufficient action by successive governments, and alleged complicity by elements in the security forces, has allowed this threat to metastasise, with Fulani militia increasingly targeting ethnic Hausa Muslim communities in the northwest
In the lead up to the CPC designation announcement, violence in Plateau State has been particularly acute, amid reports of an increase in conflict related sexual violence (CRSV) in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area (LGA). Among the incidents reported is the gang-rape of women in their farms by Fulani assailants who kill any who resist. In another disturbing incident, the Regional Chairman of the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) in Barkin Ladi LGA, Rev Ezekiel Dachomo, related how heavily-armed assailants raided a hospital at around 8pm on 17 October, abducted two girls, ensuring they were Christians, and gang-raped them for over eight hours before releasing them. Credible reports are also emerging of mobilisation for largescale attacks on Barkin Ladi, Bassa, Bokkos and Mangu LGAs by Fulani militia over the Christmas period.
CSW’s CEO Scot Bower said: ‘CSW welcomes the CPC designation, which should be regarded by the Nigerian government as an encouragement to address grave violations of freedom of religion or belief that have persisted for decades with greater urgency. Washington had already illustrated its concern for events in Nigeria by designating Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province entities of particular concern in December 2023. Yet, the security situation has worsened, violent non-state actors have proliferated, and mass killings targeting the Christian community in central Nigeria have continued, along with discrimination and violations in Shari’a states. We urge Nigeria to engage positively, and to view this designation as an opportunity to secure the assistance needed to trace and hold funders, facilitators and perpetrators of religion-related violations to account, and to close the protection gap by tackling every source of insecurity definitively.’