Nigerians Account for 90% of Christians Killed Globally, U.S. Congress Clears Trump to Sanction Tinubu Government

The United States House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa has authorised President Donald Trump to impose tough sanctions on the Nigerian government over its handling of widespread Christian persecution. The resolution followed a hearing on Wednesday where lawmakers expressed alarm over the growing number of Christian deaths in Nigeria and the country’s failure to stem religiously motivated violence.

Chairman of the subcommittee, Chris Smith, said during the hearing that militant Fulani herdsmen, responsible for many of the attacks, operate with impunity. “They steal and vandalise, they kill and boast about it, they kidnap and rape, and they enjoy total impunity from the elected officials. None of them have been arrested and brought to justice,” Mr Smith said, quoting testimony from Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of the Makurdi Diocese in Nigeria, who travelled to Washington to testify.

According to a 2024 report by the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa, Nigerians constituted 90 percent of all Christians killed worldwide between October 2019 and September 2023. Out of 55,910 people killed in that period, 21,000 were abducted, largely by terror-linked groups. The subcommittee described the violence as a campaign of “religious cleansing” and said that attempts to reframe the attacks as non-religious undermine the severity of the crisis.

Lawmakers accused the Nigerian government of failing to protect Christian communities, despite constitutional guarantees of religious freedom. The report criticised the Nigerian judiciary for allegedly targeting Christians, highlighting legal inconsistencies, including the existence of blasphemy laws that carry the death penalty. The subcommittee also denounced the apparent misuse of the courts to punish religious minorities, saying such actions contradict the country’s legal support for religious pluralism.

Mr Smith strongly criticised the Biden administration for removing Nigeria from the U.S. list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) during its tenure, despite repeated recommendations by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom to reinstate the designation. Nigeria was initially placed on the list under President Trump.

Calling for renewed action, Mr Smith urged President Trump to re-designate Nigeria as a CPC and engage President Bola Tinubu directly. He also called on the U.S. Senate to be prepared to support sanctions if the killings continue. “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 Tinubu—last night I reintroduced the resolution,” Mr Smith said.

He expressed hope that the hearing would serve as a turning point, pushing both Congress and the Executive Branch into action. “The new president has a lot to do and I think he’ll do this and then, if necessary, impose sanctions. Where that has happened, there has been change. Where it doesn’t happen, the status quo, the killing fields continue,” he said.