Owo Terror Attack: US Senators decry killings, persecution of Christians in Nigeria

United States (US) Senators have berated the Nigeria government over what they described as failure to take meaningful steps to mitigate deteriorating insecurity in the country.

The Senators decried the continued attacks, as well as killing of Christians in Nigeria

In a letter addressed to the US Secretary of State, Honorable Antony Blinken Secretary, the US Senate also faulted the decision of the American government to remove Nigeria’s designation as a Country of Particular Concern, CPC.

The June 5th Owo terror incident and the murder of Deborah Emmanuel Yakubu were specifically mentioned by the US Senate in a letter signed by Senators Josh Hawley, Mike Braun, Tom Cotton, Marco Rubio, and James M. Inhofe as examples of Christian persecution in Nigeria.

The letter reads “As you are well aware, horrific acts of deadly violence have been committed against Nigerian Christians in recent weeks, including the massacre of churchgoers on Pentecost Sunday and the stoning of a Christian college student.

“Sadly, such violence has become all too familiar for Christians in Africa’s most populous country. Last year, however, you inexplicably removed Nigeria’s designation as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) despite no demonstrable improvement in the country’s religious freedom conditions.”

According to the senators, the situation in Nigeria had continue to grow worse, hence they urged the US to “immediately reverse your misguided decision, and we write today to renew our call.”

Recent high-profile acts of violence underscore the intense religious persecution that is regularly experienced by Nigerian Christians.

They added that over the years, religious violence and intolerance against Nigerian Christians had worsened.

The senators maintained that more than 4,650 cases of Nigerian Christians who were killed for their faith in 2021 had been documented.

With the statistics, the stated that Nigeria earned the “dubious honor—for the second consecutive year—of being the deadliest country on earth for Christians.”