The U.S. House Subcommittee on Africa held a hearing Thursday on the persecution of Christians in Nigeria in what Chairman Chris Smith, RN.J., described as the “systematic and accelerating violence against predominantly Christian communities in Nigeria.”
Members of both parties questioned government officials and outside experts as witness after witness described the collapse of security, mass killings, kidnappings and the impunity that has turned Africa’s most populous country into what one lawmaker called “the deadliest place on earth to be a Christian.”
Smith, who has long been raising the alarm about the persecution of Christians in the country, described the situation in vivid terms.
TRUMP’S WARNING TO NIGERIA PROVIDES HOPE TO THE NATION’S PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS
Christians hold placards as they march through the streets of Abuja during a prayer and penance for peace and security in Nigeria in Abuja on March 1, 2020. – The Catholic Bishops of Nigeria gathered the faithful as well as other Christians and other people to pray for safety and to denounce the barbaric killings of Christians by Boko Haram insurgents and the incessant cases of kidnapping for ransom in Nigeria. (Photo by KOLA SULAIMON/AFP via Getty Images)
“Nigeria is ground zero, the focus of the most brutal and murderous anti-Christian persecution in the world,” he said.
He called the hearing “a very critical hearing,” noting that it was his twelfth hearing and that he has led three human rights trips to the country.
Citing earlier testimony from Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of Makurdi Diocese, Smith cited militants who “kill and brag about it… kidnap and rape and enjoy total impunity from elected officials.”
Highlighting a June 13 attack in Yola, he said reports showed that “278 people – men, women and children – were killed in a manner too gory to describe by people shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ as they slaughtered their victims.”
“This is not random violence. It is intentional persecution,” Smith said. “There may be other factors, but religion is the driving force.”
Smith also noted that moderate Muslims who speak out against extremists are often killed as well, underscoring the extent of Nigeria’s “culture of denial.”
TRUMP DESIGNATES NIGERIA AS ‘COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN’ OVER WIDESPREAD CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION AND MURDERS
At least 51 Christians were killed in a new attack in Nigeria’s Plateau state. (Reuters)
Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., a ranking member of the panel, agreed that Nigeria faces devastating uncertainty but warned against “overly simplistic narratives.”
Citing overlapping factors – extremist insurgency, farmer-herder conflict and organized banditry – she said the 25 girls recently abducted in Kebbi State were all Muslim.
“Violence affects everyone,” she said. “False narratives erase the real causes of violence and make it harder to find solutions.”
She condemned President Trump’s comments about “going into Nigeria with guns blazing,” calling such rhetoric reckless and illegal and saying unilateral US military action would be “counterproductive.”
Jacobs alleged that the Trump administration has eliminated the peacebuilding and conflict prevention tools that once helped reduce violence and programs, she said, “that have proactively prevented and directly addressed the violence that this administration is now concerned about.”
CRUZ Clashes With NIGERIA OVER HIS CLAIMS 50,000 CHRISTIANS KILLED SINCE 2009 BY RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE
Women and children held captive by Islamic extremists and rescued by the Nigerian military arrive in Maiduguri, Nigeria, on May 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jossy Olatunji)
Rep. John James, R-Mich., described Nigeria’s crisis in stark terms.
“This is one of the most serious religious freedom crises in the world,” he said. ‘The deadliest place on earth to be a Christian.’
He cited estimates that nearly 17,000 Christians have been murdered since 2019, calling the killings “an ongoing pattern of religiously motivated violence, often ignored or even enabled by the Nigerian government.”
Appearing on video from Benue State, Bishop Wilfred Anagbe described church burnings, mass displacement and priests targeted for kidnapping.
“Nigeria remains the deadliest place on earth to be a Christian,” Anagbe said. “More believers are murdered there every year than in the rest of the world combined.”
He thanked the government for placing Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for violations of religious freedom, but insisted that the country would be supported with sanctions and increased humanitarian support for displaced citizens.
Two senior State Department officials, Jonathan Pratt and Jacob McGee, defended the administration’s approach while acknowledging the horror of the attacks.
Pratt called the situation “a very serious security issue” and said the US “wants to elevate the protection of Christians to the top of the Nigerian government’s priorities.”
McGee added: “The level of violence and atrocities committed against Christians is appalling. … Nigerians are being attacked and murdered because of their faith.”
He pointed to blasphemy laws in 12 northern states that could carry the death penalty, calling them “unacceptable in a free and democratic society.”
‘GENOCIDE CANNOT BE IGNORED’: GOP LAWMAKER SUPPORTS TRUMP’S THREAT OF MILITARY ACTION IN NIGERIA
Spectators gather around a car that was destroyed by an explosion next to St. Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla, Nigeria, on December 25, 2011, after an explosion ripped through a Catholic church during Christmas mass near Nigeria’s capital. (Associated Press)
Both officials said the US is developing a plan to “encourage and coerce” the Nigerian government to protect religious communities.
In a conversation between Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., and an expert on Nigeria, He asked bluntly, “Madam, are we enemies? Are we – what are we?’
Oge Onubogu, director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Africa Program, responded: “We are friends.”
She added that the US-Nigeria engagement must be “from a place of fairness” and that Nigerians “recognize that the level of insecurity must be addressed quickly.”
Onubogu, however, warned that a “narrow narrative that reduces Nigeria’s security situation to a single narrative” could deepen divisions.
Stutzman pressed her further, noting: “If the Nigerian government cannot stop the violence, they must be prepared to ask the international community for help.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
People gather on July 2, 2014, where a car bomb exploded in the central market in Maiduguri, Nigeria, the birthplace of terrorist group Boko Haram. (AP Photo/Jossy Ola)
As the hearing drew to a close, Smith warned: “The Nigerian government has a constitutional obligation to protect its citizens. If it cannot stop the slaughter, America – and the world – cannot look away.”
