Trump To Impose Sanctions On Nigeria Over Rising Killings Of Christians
The United States House of Representatives has called on President Donald Trump to impose sanctions on Nigeria over the continuous killing of Christians in the country.
The demand was made during a congressional hearing on the worsening religious persecution in Nigeria, where lawmakers and experts detailed the scale of violence against Christians and other minorities.
During the session, the House discussed the persistent attacks carried out by Islamist extremists, which have resulted in thousands of deaths and mass displacement.
Legislators also criticised the Joe Biden’s administration for reversing Nigeria’s designation as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) without justification.
“In December 2020, President Trump designated Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern only to be reversed without justification by Secretary Blinken in November of 2021,” Representative Chris Smith stated.
“Religious leaders in Nigeria were outraged by Sec. Blinken’s decision.”
Smith, who authored the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act, argued that Nigeria’s government had failed to protect its Christian population despite constitutional guarantees of religious freedom.
“The Government of Nigeria has failed to make progress against religiously motivated persecution of Christians despite religious freedom being enshrined as an essential human right in its Constitution.”
Highlighting the extent of the violence, Smith referenced reports from Genocide Watch. “Genocide Watch has called Nigeria ‘a killing field of defenceless Christians,’” he said. “Over 52,000 Christians in Nigeria have reportedly been targeted and killed by Islamist extremists, while approximately 34,000 moderate non-Fulani Muslims have been murdered in Islamist attacks since 2009.”
He added that about five million Nigerians, mostly Christians, had been forced into Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps and refugee settlements across the region.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee had previously passed Smith’s resolution, H. Res. 82, urging the Biden administration to redesignate Nigeria as a CPC.
However, the resolution never reached the House floor. On March 11, 2025, Smith reintroduced it as H. Res. 220. “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 Bola Tinuba—last night I reintroduced the resolution,” Smith said. “Help can’t come fast enough.”
The hearing, titled Conflict and Persecution in Nigeria: The Case for a CPC Designation, featured testimonies from religious leaders and policy experts. Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of the Diocese of Makurdi stated, “A long-term, Islamic agenda to homogenize the population has been implemented, over several presidencies, through a strategy to reduce and eventually eliminate the Christian identity of half of the population.”
He detailed how Christians faced exclusion from power, abductions, rapes, killings, and land seizures by Fulani herders, all without government intervention.
Nina Shea, Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute, emphasised Nigeria’s status as the world’s deadliest country for Christians.
“Nigeria is a country of superlatives—Africa’s most populous country, its largest economy and, alarmingly, the entire world’s deadliest country for Christians,” she told the House panel.
“Currently, militant groups of nomadic Fulani Muslim herders are reported to be the greatest threat to Nigeria’s Christians, particularly those in Middle Belt farming communities.”
Tony Perkins, former Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, accused Western media of downplaying the crisis. “As a former USCIRF chair, I can verify that many Western news outlets, taking their cues from the previous administration, continue to overlook the accelerating violence and bloodshed currently taking place in Africa,” he testified.
“In Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, vicious attacks and bloodshed continue to surge, week after week, month after month. Christians are the primary targets of this terrorism, facing murders, rapes, kidnappings, and constant threats.”
With mounting pressure from lawmakers and advocacy groups, attention now turns to whether Trump will reinstate Nigeria’s CPC designation and impose sanctions to address the ongoing persecution.
