Genocide in Nigeria: The Biden Administration's Cover-Up
by Raymond Ibrahim • February 15, 2023 at 5:00 am
[T]he Biden administration's decision to delist Nigeria from the list of Countries of Particular Concern was "inexplicable," according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
Christians are being butchered — "purged" — in Nigeria at an alarming rate.
In 2022 alone, 90% of all Christians around the world who were killed for their faith... were slaughtered in Nigeria. On average, that is 14 Christians killed for their faith every day in Nigeria — at least one Christian every two hours.
In just the first month of 2023, in January alone, Muslims slaughtered approximately 60 Christians in Nigeria, raided churches, and kidnapped women and children.
[O]n January 31, 2023, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), introduced a bipartisan resolution calling for not only the return of Nigeria to the State Department's CPC list, but for the appointment of a special ambassador to monitor the situation.
"[The Fulani] demonstrated a clear intent to target Christians and symbols of Christian identity such as churches, and, during attacks, shouted 'Allah u Akbar,' 'destroy the infidels,' and 'wipe out the infidels.'... [Despite this] the Department of State mischaracterizes or incompletely characterizes the increasing incidents of large scale violence ... [as] solely attributable to competition for scarce natural resources resulting from climate change." — U.S. House Resolution "Expressing the sense of Congress regarding the need to designate Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern."
The new resolution also, rather refreshingly, calls out Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari—himself a Fulani, who "has favored and promoted fellow Fulani and other northern Muslim ethnic groups," while others, chief among them Christians, "are denied equal rights."
"It's tough to tell Nigerian Christians this isn't a religious conflict since what they see are Fulani fighters clad entirely in black, chanting 'Allahu Akbar!' and screaming 'Death to Christians.'" — Sister Monica Chikwe, Nigerian nun, cruxnow.com, August 4, 2019.
[B]y removing Nigeria from the CPC list in November, 2021, the Biden administration was simply returning to the status quo. Although jihadists had slaughtered and terrorized Nigeria's Christians all during President Barack Obama's eight-year tenure, when Biden was his Vice President (2009-2017), and although the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom had, beginning in 2009 and every year afterwards, repeatedly urged that Nigeria be designated as a Country of Particular Concern, the Obama administration had obstinately refused to comply.
It was only in 2020, under the Trump administration, that Nigeria was first designated as a CPC — only to be removed the following year under Biden.
[A]lthough news media initially presented the kidnapped [by Boko Haram] Chibok schoolgirls as Muslim, it later came out that they were Christian, at which point the media quickly lost interest.
Once again, the Biden Administration seems to be prioritizing yet another ruthless dictatorship as more important than a genocide – this time, one persecuting Christians, not Uyghurs. What other reason could there be not to rename Nigeria a "country of particular concern"?
Swept under the rug for more than a year, one of the Biden administration's "sins of omission" are making headlines again.
On November 17, 2021, the State Department inexplicably removed Nigeria from its list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC list). These are nations that either engage in, or tolerate, violations of religious freedom. The Biden State Department removed Nigeria from the list despite strong objections from several human rights organizations, many of which insist that Christians are even undergoing a genocide in Nigeria.
Many observers at the time slammed the State Department for its decision to let Nigeria literally get away with mass murder. Christian Solidarity International said:
