‘Christians are Being Killed’: Critics outraged at Biden Admin for ignoring Nigeria in Countries of Concerned List
On November 19, 2022, twelve people were killed by jihadists from the Fulani ethnic group in Nigeria. Priests knew the impending attack and asked the army to protect them, but they didn’t listen.
The murderers used machetes instead of guns so as not to make loud noises. They just went into people’s houses at night and butchered them silently.
Then a young student, who was a Christian, was stoned on her campus. She was accused of blasphemy by her classmates.
Even more shocking was that the killer recorded the crime and their faces while celebrating around her burning body, and there was no justice served.
This type of killing goes on every week. “That’s not an exaggeration. There’s an organized program by militias that seem to have at least a tacit cooperation with the Nigerian government to ethnically cleanse…,” said Joel Veldkamp of Christian Solidarity International through CBN’s Faithwire.
Christian persecution in Nigeria is nothing new—the reason the country ranks 7th among the most persecuted countries in the world. [Open Doors]
Biden-Harris administration ignores Nigeria on the list
The United States lists countries “that are of concern” in matters of genocide, inhumane treatment, and racial or religious wars.
A law passed in the United States in 1998 called the International Religious Freedom Act requires that the POTUS make a list of countries of “particular concern” for Religious Freedom each year.
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS.
Countries of Particular Concern
Hence, President Biden was supposed to identify countries where religious freedom is not protected and either apply sanctions or waive it if there’s a valid reason. There are good valid reasons for the U.S. State Department to put Nigeria on this list, but it wasn’t.
Religious freedom advocates are “outraged” and confounded after the Biden administration again declined to add Nigeria to the U.S. Department of State’s Countries of Particular Concern list issued in December 2022.
Joel Veldkamp has been among those urging the State Department to reclassify Nigeria as a nation violating residents’ religious liberty – but to no avail.
The Biden administration’s decision to ignore international outcry over the matter is stunning, particularly in light of the deadly assaults unfolding against Christians in Nigeria daily, Veldkamp explained.
Biden administration again declined to add Nigeria to the “Concern list.”
