posted 13th March 2025
US House Urges Trump to Sanction Nigeria Over Christian Persecution
Washington, 13 March 2025 – The United States House of Representatives has called on President Donald Trump to impose sanctions on Nigeria amid escalating concerns over the relentless killing of Christians in the West African nation. The demand emerged from a congressional hearing held this week, titled Conflict and Persecution in Nigeria: The Case for a CPC Designation, which spotlighted the worsening religious persecution gripping Africa’s most populous country.
Lawmakers and experts painted a grim picture of the violence perpetrated by Islamist extremists, which has claimed thousands of lives and displaced millions, predominantly Christians and other minorities. The session underscored the scale of the crisis, with Representative Chris Smith, a prominent advocate for religious freedom, leading the charge. Smith, the author of the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act, accused Nigeria’s government of failing to safeguard its Christian population despite constitutional protections.
“The Government of Nigeria has failed to make progress against religiously motivated persecution of Christians, despite religious freedom being enshrined as an essential human right in its Constitution,” Smith told the hearing. Citing data from Genocide Watch, he described Nigeria as “a killing field of defenceless Christians,” noting that over 52,000 Christians have reportedly been killed by Islamist extremists since 2009. An additional 34,000 moderate non-Fulani Muslims have also lost their lives in similar attacks over the same period, he added.
The violence has forced approximately five million Nigerians—mostly Christians—into Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps and refugee settlements across the region, according to Smith. He lambasted the administration of former President Joe Biden for reversing Nigeria’s designation as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) in November 2021, a status conferred by President Trump in December 2020. “Religious leaders in Nigeria were outraged by Secretary Blinken’s decision,” Smith remarked, calling the reversal unjustified.
On 11 March 2025, Smith reintroduced a resolution, H. Res. 220, urging the Trump administration to restore Nigeria’s CPC status—a move previously passed by the House Foreign Affairs Committee as H. Res. 82 but never brought to the House floor. “While I strongly believe that President Trump will again designate Nigeria a CPC—and do much more to assist the persecuted church, including outreach to Nigerian President Bola Tinubu—help can’t come fast enough,” Smith said.
Testimonies during the hearing reinforced the urgency of the situation. Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of the Diocese of Makurdi described a “long-term Islamic agenda to homogenise the population” under successive Nigerian presidencies, aimed at eradicating the Christian identity of half the country’s populace. He recounted harrowing instances of exclusion from power, abductions, rapes, killings, and land seizures by Fulani herders—attacks he said occurred with impunity due to government inaction.
Nina Shea, Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom, labelled Nigeria “the world’s deadliest country for Christians.” She highlighted the role of militant Fulani Muslim herders, who pose the greatest threat to Christian farming communities in the Middle Belt. “Nigeria is a country of superlatives—Africa’s most populous nation, its largest economy, and, alarmingly, the deadliest place for Christians globally,” Shea told the panel.
Tony Perkins, former Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, accused Western media of downplaying the crisis, suggesting that many outlets, influenced by the Biden administration, have ignored the escalating bloodshed. “In Nigeria, vicious attacks and brutality continue unabated,” he testified.
The hearing concluded with a renewed push for action, as lawmakers expressed hope that President Trump would leverage sanctions and diplomatic pressure to address the persecution. With H. Res. 220 now on the table, the spotlight remains firmly on Nigeria—and on Washington’s next move.
