ADF International and Revelation Media officials say Christians in Nigeria “are also facing increased rates of being abducted, with 2,500 Christians … abducted between November 2020 and October 2021 as against 900 abducted in the previous year.”
Newsroom (20/11/2022 2:11 PM, Gaudium Press) — Faith-based organizations with a presence in Africa have petitioned the President of the United States of America (U.S.) to return Nigeria to the list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC), a watchlist of nations with the most horrific violations of religious freedom.
In the petition, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International and Revelation Media say persecution of Christians has increased in Africa’s most populous nation since it was removed from the CPC in November last year.
“We the undersigned petition President Joe Biden and his administration to add Nigeria back to the CPC list immediately,” officials of the faith-based organizations say in the November 11 appeal.
They say the situation in Nigeria has worsened since 2020, when first included in the CPC list.
“If the persecution was intense enough for Nigeria in 2020 to be placed on the CPC list then, it makes no sense to leave them off the list now, as the situation has only grown worse,” they say.
They say removing Nigeria from the CPC list “has led to the emboldening of Islamic terrorists, radical militants, and other extremists who kill, torture, and abduct Christians, as well as Muslims who reject extremism.”
In the months of January 2021 to March 2022, over 6,000 Christians have been martyred in Nigeria, facing death by being shot, hacked to pieces, and burned alive, they say citing the 2022 report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety).
They add, citing the Open Doors’ 2022 World Watch List on the global persecution of Christians, “4,650 Christians were killed in Nigeria between November 2020 and October 2021, higher than 3,530 deaths recorded in the previous year.”
ADF International and Revelation Media officials say Christians in Nigeria “are also facing increased rates of being abducted, with 2,500 Christians … abducted between November 2020 and October 2021 as against 900 abducted in the previous year.”
While U.S. citizens enjoy their religious freedom, they note, millions of Christians in Nigeria, especially those in the Northern and Middle Belt regions “live in fear that they might be the next victims of horrific violence.”
The ADF International and the Revelation Media officials emphasize the need to include the West African nation in the watchlist, saying, “Adding Nigeria back to the CPC list will send a powerful message that the religious persecution taking place in Nigeria is unacceptable.”
“The killings must stop. The torture must stop,” they say.
Officials of the Christian organizations say the least the U.S. leadership can do “is take a stand by acknowledging the very real evil taking place in Nigeria at this time.”
“We cannot condone this violence by turning a blind eye any longer,” ADF International and Revelation Media officials emphasize in their November 11 petition to the U.S. President.
– Raju Hasmukh with files from ACI Africa
