A CSI team meets with Christian survivors of a Fulani militia massacre in Plateau State, Nigeria. April 2025. csi
Once again, the United States of America has designated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for “particularly severe violations of religious freedom” following the targeted killings of Christians, which have been described as genocidal.
This move comes after years of campaigning by CSI and other Christian organizations, which have documented systematic attacks against Christians over the past fifteen years, including killings, sexual violence, abductions, destruction of churches, and the wiping out of Christian villages in central and northeastern Nigeria.
A report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on International Religious Freedom in the British Parliament in January 2020 also raised concern about the massacre of Christians in northern Nigeria. The report was titled Nigeria: Unfolding Genocide?
During his first term as President of the United States, Donald Trump designated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern in December 2020, following a recommendation from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).
Former President Joe Biden, however, removed Nigeria from that list in November 2021, just before then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Nigeria — a move sharply criticized as emboldening the perpetrators of violence against Christians. USCIRF itself described the move as “appalling” and “unexplainable.”
What Does This Mean for Nigeria’s Christians?
“We have cried, prayed, fasted, and in voiceless agonies tried to tell our stories, which have been ignored until now. We cannot thank the United States government and all those who have been our voices all these years enough for this designation, which will now continue to echo all we have been saying for over a decade. We thank God for this answered prayer,” said Venerable Tunde Yusuf, a priest in Jos who barely escaped being killed during an attack.
Designating a country as a Country of Particular Concern means that the country has “engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom… including violations such as torture, degrading treatment or punishment, prolonged detention without charges, abduction or clandestine detention, or other flagrant denials of the right to life, liberty, or security of person.”
According to the U.S. State Department, when such violations occur and a country is placed on this list, and when “non-economic policy options designed to bring about cessation of particularly severe violations of religious freedom have reasonably been exhausted, an economic measure generally must be imposed” – meaning, economic sanctions.
For persecuted Christians, this designation offers some consolation. In his announcement of the CPC designation on Truth Social, President Donald Trump stated that “Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter.”
This acknowledgment is what Nigerian Christians have long hoped leaders of countries like the United Kingdom and other European nations would also make, and would use to pressure the Nigerian government to end these tragedies.
Senator Ted Cruz stated, “Today’s designation is a critical step in holding accountable and changing the behavior of Nigerian officials who have facilitated and created an environment conducive to the outrages in Nigeria.”
He also promised to continue pushing a bill in the U.S. Congress to target “those who implement blasphemy and sharia laws in Nigeria,” which have resulted in mob killings of Christians, such as the brutal murder of Deborah Samuel Yakubu on May 12, 2022, in Sokoto, Nigeria, for which no one has been held accountable.
Nigeria’s Denials
Predictably, the Nigerian government denies the claims of attacks on Christians. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated, “Nigerians of all faiths have long lived, worked, and worshipped together peacefully.”
Since the proposal of the bill in the U.S. Senate calling for Nigeria’s designation as a Country of Particular Concern by Senator Ted Cruz, in the same line with concerns raised by Canadian MP Andrew Scheer and the public challenge from comedian Bill Maher about the media’s silence on killings in Nigeria, the National Assembly in Abuja has further downplayed the specifically targeted killings of Christians. It claimed that “the nation’s insecurity is complex, driven by insurgency, criminal banditry, farmer-herder conflict, separatist violence, and communal disputes, affecting citizens of all faiths.”
Insecurity is rife throughout Nigeria, and many Muslim civilians have been killed in attacks by jihadists and other Muslim armed groups. However, jihadist groups in Nigeria like Boko Haram have made the elimination of Christians in northern Nigeria one of their declared goals. In the Middle Belt region of Nigeria, Fulani militias target Christian villages almost exclusively.
Ending the Genocidal Attacks on Christians in Nigeria
Following Trump’s announcement, John Eibner, the president of CSI, commented, “President Trump’s powerful words must be matched by swift, powerful action, given the grisly magnitude of the persecution of Christians in Nigeria and elsewhere.” Pointing to the U.S.’ embrace of regimes that persecute Christians in Syria and Azerbaijan, Eibner argued that “a major reorientation of foreign policy is required if the United States is to fulfill President Trump’s pledge to ‘save our Great Christian population around the world.’”
“The decision by the United States government to place Nigeria on the list of Countries of Particular Concern is only the first step,” said Joel Veldkamp, CSI’s director for public advocacy. “Countries more closely linked to Nigeria, such as the United Kingdom, must also designate Nigeria in a similar category in order to increase pressure on the Nigerian government to end over fifteen years of bloody violence, displacement, and the destruction of people’s beliefs, cultures, heritage, and history, all of which stand in violation of the human rights charters that these nations have pledged to uphold.”
In particular, Veldkamp said, the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries should focus their attention on the Fulani militia groups who are carrying out a slow-motion ethnic cleansing campaign against Christians in Nigeria’s Middle Belt. Reports show that Fulani Islamist militia groups in Nigeria have committed more terrorist acts and killed more people than Boko Haram.
“There are strong indications that these well-armed militia networks receive at least tacit support from elements within the Nigerian security forces,” Veldkamp said. “Nigeria’s allies must investigate these ties, and demand that the Nigerian government take effective steps to hold perpetrators accountable and protect Christians in the Middle Belt.”
Christians in Nigeria have long cried out for acknowledgment of the genocidal attacks that have devastated their communities and destroyed their families. Though this acknowledgment has been long in coming, the next step must be justice for the victims and real international efforts to bring security for Nigeria’s Christians.
