The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, a civil rights advocacy organisation, has petitioned the US to redesignate Nigeria into its Countries of Particular Concern or CPC, citing several violations of religious freedom in the nation.
The organisation criticised Nigeria’s removal from the list and believed the country should be there for “having engaged in or tolerated systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom”.
HURIWA, in a statement released on Thursday headlined “Religious intolerance: HURIWA faults the US on delisting Nigeria under Buhari”, said that targeted murders of religious believers based on their beliefs continue under President Buhari’s government.
HURIWA said, “It was wrong for the United States to adopt this provocative and ignorant decision even when Christians of Northern Nigerian extraction are killed by Moslem Fulani armed militia supported by officials working inside the office of President Muhammadu Buhari.”
It questioned the empirical facts utilised by the US to remove Nigeria from the list of worldwide violators of religious freedom.
Similarly, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said the US Department of State’s omission to reclassify Nigeria as a CPC was inexplicable.
“While the State Department took steps forward on some designations, USCIRF is especially displeased with the removal of Nigeria from its CPC designation, where it was rightfully placed last year, as well as the omission of India, Syria, and Vietnam,” said USCIRF Chair Nadine Maenza.
“We urge the State Department to reconsider its designations based on facts presented in its own reporting.”
