US Places Nigeria on Watch List for Religious Persecution

The United States Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, announced that Nigeria has been added to a "Special Watch List (SWL) of countries that have engaged in "severe violations of religious freedom."

Recall that the 2018 report of the United States Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), recommended Nigeria's designation as a "Country of Particular Concern".

Of course the Nigerian Government's treatment of Shiites Muslim Sect must have contributed to this negative designation.

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The Nigerian Government has been accused of human rights violations by Amnesty International, for killing over 300 Shiite Muslims in Zaria, and burying them in secret mass graves. The leader of the Muslim sect , Sheik El ZakZaky and his wife, have also been in detention since the massacre, even though several courts have issued orders for his release on bail, including the ECOWAS court.

The Nigerian Government ordered a probe into that incident that occurred in December 2015, but till date, there have been no complete report of their finding or punishment for that atrocity.

Christian Nigeria have also screamed marginalization on different occasions, and the handling of the Fulani Killer herders menace in the middle belt, also suggests government bias towards Christians.

While the same Government was quick to Proscribe The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) group as terrorists, they have not proscribed the Muslim dominated Killer Herder group that massacred hundreds of Nigerians in the middle belt of the country.

“On December 18, 2019, the Department of State re-designated Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan as Countries of Particular Concern under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 for having engaged in or tolerated “systematic, ongoing, [and] egregious violations of religious freedom.”

“The Department renewed the placement of Comoros, Russia, and Uzbekistan on a Special Watch List (SWL) for governments that have engaged in or tolerated “severe violations of religious freedom,” and added Cuba, Nicaragua, Nigeria, and Sudan to this list,” Mr Pompeo said.

According to Mr Pompeo, the U.S. also designated al-Nusra Front, al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula, al-Qa’ida, al-Shabab, Boko Haram, the Houthis, ISIS, ISIS-Khorasan, and the Taliban as Entities of Particular Concern.