Biden admin’s decision to remove Nigeria from the U.S. State Department’s Countries of Particular Concern could cause more danger.
QUICK FACTS:
- Religious persecution watchdogs have called out the Biden administration’s decision to remove Nigeria from the U.S. State Department’s ‘Countries of Particular Concern.’
- David Curry, CEO of Open Doors USA, told CBN’s Faithwire that this could have devastating ramifications for Christians: “We’re puzzled by this [decision], because nothing has gotten better in Nigeria. It continues to get worse,” he said.
- The country has been under increased scrutiny since news broke about the death of 25-year-old Christian college student, Deborah Emmanuel, who was reportedly fatally stoned by a Muslim mob.
- “Nigeria is the country that we can measure [that] has the most Christians killed for their faith, thousands and thousands of them every year,” Curry said.
- The watchdog group went on to assert that the United States wants to be international partners with Nigeria and that easing the pressure is “woefully insufficient” to meet what is needed for Christians’ safety.
‘OPEN DOORS USA’ CEO STATEMENT:
- “To take Nigeria off the Countries of Particular Concern list for no apparent reason seems purely political, and, unfortunately, Deborah Samuel and others will lose their life because that pressure was eased,” Curry said. “I would say the Nigerian government has done nothing to resolve this problem.
- “They do not sufficiently protect these civilian soft spots like churches … because the government of Nigeria has done nothing, we should raise the pressure on them and put them on the Countries of Particular Concern,” the CEO went on to say.
- Curry also said officials frequently ignore extremism, and extremists’ actions which have been largely ignored since at least 2012. “The entire north of the country of Nigeria operates under shariah law,” Curry said. “There are extremist groups [like Boko Haram]. The ideology is the same. They target Christians because of their faith … they’ll attack entire villages.”
BACKGROUND:
- The publication previously reported that Open Doors is not alone in its call on the Biden administration to put America’s weight behind protecting Christians.
- Joel Veldkamp, head of international communications at persecution watchdog group Christian Solidarity International (CSI) also weighed in, warning of the situation in Nigeria during a recent interview.
- “The US has a pretty large infrastructure dedicated to religious freedom,” he said Wednesday. “If [Deborah’s] own government is not going to take this seriously and our government is not going to take this seriously, I’m really pessimistic about the chances for anything changing for the better in Nigeria.”
