US / UK SANCTIONS NIGERIA AS BISHOP WILFRED ANAGBE ATTESTS TO KILLING OF CHRISTIANS
By Eric T. Adah
The United States congressional subcommittee on Africa has given president Donald Trump the green light to impose stringent sanctions on Nigeria in respect to the widespread killing of Christians in the country.
The decision followed a congressional hearing on Wednesday, March 12, during which lawmakers condemned the Nigerian government for failing to protect Christian communities from escalating violence.
The committee also cited a 2024 report by the “Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa,” which revealed that Nigerians accounted for 90 percent of all Christians killed worldwide each year.
The report documented that between October 2019 and September 2023, a staggering 55, 910 people were killed, while 21, 000 others were abducted by terrorist group operating in the region.
During the hearing, committee Chairman, Chris Small, who highlighted the severity of the crisis, pointed to the testimony from Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of the Catholic Diocese of Makurdi, Benue state Nigeria, as a viable witness.
He said: “One of our distinguished witnesses today – Bishop Wilfred Anagbe – travelled a long distance to be with us, and his testimony is both compelling and disturbing. Militant herdsmen are terrorist’s they steal and vandalise, the kill and boast about it, they kidnap and rape, and they enjoy total impunity from elected officials. None of them have been arrested or brought to justice “.
Make no mistake – these attacks are religiously motivated,” the report stated, adding; ” Denying this reality contradicts the overwhelming evidence we have seen with our own eyes. This religious cleansing ‘ must stop, and those responsible must be held accountable.”
The congressional panel strongly criticized the Nigerian government for failing to address religiously-motivated evidence, despite constitutional protections for religious freedom.
Expressing concerns that Nigeria’s judicial system had been weaponised to suppress Christians communities, the lawmakers cited cases where blasphemy laws have been used to target religious minorities.
” The Government of Nigeria has made little progress in addressing the persecution of Christians even though religious freedom is enshrined as a fundamental human right in its constitution. While Nigeria’s legal framework ostensibly support religious pluralism at both federal and state levels, glaring contradictions persist – particularly in laws that criminalised blasphemy, some of which even carry the death penalties ” the subcommittee, report stated.
Blaming the previous administration of president Joe Biden for its role in weakening U.S pressure on Nigeria by removing the country from the country of particular concern (CPC) list, Smith said the destination was originally applied during president Trump’s first term.
He noted that despite the fact that, for four consecutive years of recommendations from the U.S commission on international religious freedom (2021- 2024), the Biden administration had failed to reinstate Nigeria’s CPC status.
He maintained that” Under president Biden, Nigeria was removed from the CPC list, despite overwhelming evidence that religious persecution had worsened. The decision ignored the repeated recommendations of the U.S commission on international Religious freedom,” he said.
He called on president Trump to take decisive action including restoring Nigeria’s CPC designation and engaging directly with Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu to ensure better protection for Christian communities.
” I fully expect president Trump to redesignate Nigeria as a CPC and take additional steps to support the persecuted Church – Last night, I reintroduce a resolution on this issue, and I hope we will have a robust discussion that leads to real action,” he said.
In a related development, Bishop Wilfred Anagbe, who is also visiting the UK as a guest of Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) – reported to parliamentarians that his flock have seen their homes torched and are been forced to flee to internally displaced person’s (IDP) camps.
The bishop said that Benue state, including Makurdi diocese, has been attacked by Islamist extremists and herdsmen targeting Christians communities and has seen farmers driven from their land, churches burned, and priests, religious and lay members killed.
Bishop Anagbe said; The militant herdsmen bear on defenceless villagers without consequences. They follow orders to conquer, kill, and occupy. They attack even those who have managed to escape into our IDP camps.”
The bishop added that for his people, their experience today” can be summed up as that of a church under Islamist extermination.” Bishop Anagbe condemned the lack of action by the Nigerian government to tackle this violence and insecurity. He said; “when we call for help to the police and the army, they do not come.”
At the end of 2024, several villagers were warned by the attackers of the upcoming violence, and the leaders called the police for defence, ahead of time.
” But they did not come, and the Christmas massacres, almost customary, took place killing hundreds in Plateau and Benue, with the worst massacre claiming 47 lives.”
The bishop called on the UK government and parliamentarian to work with the Nigerian government to bring relief to the suffering of those who have fled the violence and are now in internal displacement camps.
The prelate said: “I asked you to condition the diplomatic and Economic relations of the UK with Nigeria on the return of the IDPs to their ancestral homes and help for them to rebuild their lives. I implore this august body to insist on the return and rehabilitation of all IDPs to their ancestral lands, and not to relocate them to other constructed camps elsewhere”.
Bishop Anagbe also issued a plea, calling on the UK to ensure justice for those who have been displaced. He said ” justice for the IDPs should also include seeking punishment for the perpetrators, a restitution of the dignity of the victims. Payment of full compensation to all victims of religious persecution and insecurity. Ensuring that victims of Religious persecution get justice.”
Speaking after the event, ACN (UK)’ national director, Dr. Carolina Hull, said: ” The powerful statement by Bishop Anagbe, here today in parliament, brings home the horror and misery facing the Christian population of Benue state. At ACN, we are helping to support Bishop, Anagbe and the faithful of his Diocese, but we can’t do so much.”
She maintained that,” This violence and insecurity must be addressed by the Nigerian government, so they can ensure the right to freedom from religious persecution for the Christians in Nigeria in accordance with international law.”
The bishop has called for Nigeria to be reinstated on the list of ” countries of particular concern” Issued each year by the US Department of state under the religious freedom Act of 1998.
The bishop’s remarks echo those he made two weeks ago in the US Congress to the House committee on foreign Affairs.
It will be recall that since the beginning of farmers and herder’s clashes which started in 2013, it has claimed more than five hundred lives, destroyed houses and farm products worth billions of naira, this barbaric act is carried out mostly in Christian communities. Where the inhabitants are been sacked from their communities and the herdsmen are currently occupying those places for years now.
In 2019, when former president Mohammadu Buhari visited the United States of America, President Donald Trump confronted him directly and told him to stop the killing of Christians in Nigeria.
It’s sad that no little efforts have been made by the president to bring a lasting solution to the Killings.
