US human rights advocates urge Trump to defend religious freedom in Nigeria

Funeral of Christians killed on August 28, 2025, in Kauru County, Kaduna State, Nigeria. Photo: Christian Daily

On October 15, 2025, American human rights activists and religious leaders have called on President Donald Trump to designate Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” (CPC) due to escalating persecution of Christians and to take diplomatic and economic measures as part of a meaningful American response to the “systematic killing of Christians in Nigeria.” 

In their open letter, the advocates noted that “the last several years have seen a burgeoning of violent attacks specifically targeting rural Christians in the country’s Middle Belt, while the government in Abuja barely lifts a finger to protect them.”

According to the signatories, the Nigerian authorities not only tolerate mass violence against Christians but "directly violate religious freedom by enforcing Islamic blasphemy laws that carry the death penalty and harsh prison sentences against citizens of various religions."

Many local churches and civic observers see this pattern of attacks by militant Fulani Muslim herders as a coordinated effort to seize land and forcibly Islamize the area.

The authors recalled that Nigeria was first designated a country of concern in the final year of Trump’s first administration, but the designation was removed under President Joe Biden in 2021, which has only worsened the situation in Nigeria.

“U.S. law warrants CPC designation when a country is found to be 'tolerating' serious violations of religious freedom, as well as when itself carries out violations,” the letter states. “Ignoring what is happening in Nigeria amounts to silent consent to religion-based violence.”

The letter concludes with a call for the United States to use diplomatic and economic tools to defend Christians in Nigeria and restore their right to freely practice their faith. “We must acknowledge the religious nature of this catastrophe and stand in defense of our brothers and sisters in Christ,” the appeal reads.

The appeal was signed by Nina Shea, Director of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom; former congressman Frank Wolf; Jim Daly, CEO of Focus on the Family; and Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council. They emphasized that in just the first seven months of 2025, more than 7,000 Christians were killed in Nigeria.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that Islamist militants killed nine Christians and wounded eight others in Nigeria.

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