BY EMMANUEL ONWUBIKO
President Donald John Trump of the United states of America through
his secretary of state Mr. Mike Pompeo has just announced for the
second time that the Federal Republic of Nigeria under the
administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is intolerant of
religious plurality when the USA added Nigeria to religious freedom
blacklist.
The United States on Monday placed Nigeria for the second time on a
religious freedom blacklist, paving the way for potential sanctions if
it does not improve its record.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo designated the US ally as a “Country
of Particular Concern” for religious freedom, alongside nations that
include China, Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
Pompeo did not elaborate on the reasons for including Nigeria, which
has a delicate balance between Muslims and Christians.
But US law requires such designations for nations that either engage
in or tolerate “systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of
religious freedom.”
Pompeo notably did not include India, which has a growing relationship
with Washington, and was infuriated by a recommendation from the US
Commission on International Religious Freedom to include the secular
but Hindu-majority nation over what it called a sharp downward turn
under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Other nations on the blacklist are Eritrea, Myanmar, North Korea,
Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
Pompeo removed from a second-tier watchlist both Uzbekistan and Sudan,
whose relations with the United States have rapidly warmed after the
ousting of dictator Omar al-Bashir and its recent agreement to
recognize Israel.
On Nigeria, an annual State Department report published earlier this
year took note of concerns both at the federal and state levels.
It pointed to the mass detention of members of the Islamic Movement in
Nigeria, a Shiite Muslim group that has been at loggerheads with the
government for decades and was banned by a court.
The group has taken inspiration from Iran, ordinarily a major target
of President Donald Trump’s administration.
However, Nigeria has been widely criticized for its treatment of the
movement, including in a 2015 clash in which hundreds were said to
have died.
The State Department report highlighted the arrests of Muslims for
eating in public in Kano state during Ramadan, when Muslims are
supposed to fast during daylight hours.
It also took note of the approval of a bill in Kaduna state to
regulate religious preaching.
While the designations relate to government actions, the State
Department has already listed Nigeria’s Boko Haram as a terrorist
group.
The international media notes that militants began an insurgency in
2009 in north-eastern Nigeria that has since spread to neighbouring
countries, killing more than 36,000 people and forcing three million
to flee their homes, according to the United Nations.
Under US law, nations on the blacklist must make improvements or face
sanctions including losses of US government assistance, although the
administration can waive actions.
To begin with, we need to get a clear understanding of the import of
this classification which has for the second year running being
imposed in compliance with an extant executive order on advancing
international religious freedom.
Specifically, the section 4 of this executive order made on June 2,
2020 stressed that it is being made to mainstream International
Religious Freedom into the United States diplomacy. Other components
are:
(a) The Secretary shall direct Chiefs of Mission in countries of
particular concern, countries on the Special Watch List, countries in
which there are entities of particular concern, and any other
countries that have engaged in or tolerated violations of religious
freedom as noted in the Annual Report on International Religious
Freedom required by section 102(b) of the International Religious
Freedom Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-292), as amended (the “Act”),
to develop comprehensive action plans to inform and support the
efforts of the United States to advance international religious
freedom and to encourage the host governments to make progress in
eliminating violations of religious freedom.
(b) In meetings with their counterparts in foreign governments, the
heads of agencies shall, when appropriate and in coordination with the
Secretary, raise concerns about international religious freedom and
cases that involve individuals imprisoned because of their religion.
(c) The Secretary shall advocate for United States international
religious freedom policy in both bilateral and multilateral fora, when
appropriate, and shall direct the Administrator of USAID to do the
same.
Besides, to make sure that the classification on nations in the
blacklist makes some sense, the government of the United States of
America intends to use economic sanctions against political rulers of
countries designated as being antagonistic to religious plurality.
Section 6 which is the economic tool component of this executive order
on advancing international religious freedoms specifies that:
(a) The Secretary and the Secretary of the Treasury shall, in
consultation with the Assistant to the President for National Security
Affairs, and through the process described in National Security
Presidential Memorandum-4 of April 4, 2017 (Organization of the
National Security Council, the Homeland Security Council, and
Subcommittees), develop recommendations to prioritize the appropriate
use of economic tools to advance international religious freedom in
countries of particular concern, countries on the Special Watch List,
countries in which there are entities of particular concern, and any
other countries that have engaged in or tolerated violations of
religious freedom as noted in the report required by section 102(b) of
the Act. These economic tools may include, as appropriate and to the
extent permitted by law, increasing religious freedom programming,
realigning foreign assistance to better reflect country circumstances,
or restricting the issuance of visas under section 604(a) of the Act.
(b) The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary
of State, may consider imposing sanctions under Executive Order 13818
of December 20, 2017 (Blocking the Property of Persons Involved in
Serious Human Rights Abuse or Corruption), which, among other things,
implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act
(Public Law 114-328).
Sec. 7. Definitions. For purposes of this order:
(a) “Country of particular concern” is defined as provided in
section 402(b)(1)(A) of the Act;
(b) “Entity of particular concern” is defined as provided in
section 301 of the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act
(Public Law 114-281);
(c) “Special Watch List” is defined as provided in sections 3(15)
and 402(b)(1)(A)(iii) of the Act; and
(d) “Violations of religious freedom” is defined as provided in
section 3(16) of the Act.
Sec. 8. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be
construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or
agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and
Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative
proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law
and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or
benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by
any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
The Buhari’s Central Government strongly disagrees with the
blacklist just as the Buhari’s government.
The Federal Government has reacted to the designation of Nigeria as a
country of concern on religious freedom by the United States
Government.
The government said that Nigeria will vigorously engage the US
government to remove its name from its blacklist of countries over
concern on religious freedom.
The government’s reaction is contained in a press statement which
was issued by the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday,
December 8, 2020, and signed by the ministry’s spokesman, Ferdinand
Nwonye.
While expressing its displeasure to the US government on this
development, the Nigerian government said that it remained committed
to ensuring respect and protection of all citizens’ rights to
religious freedom and promotion of religious tolerance and harmony.
The statement from the Foreign Affairs Ministry reads, “The
attention of the ministry has been drawn to an announcement made by
the U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, stating that the government
of the United States of America has designated Nigeria as a ‘country
of concern under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998’.
“The Federal Government of Nigeria received the news with surprise,
that a secular country under a democratic government will be so
designated. Although the Nigerian state is multi-religious and
multi-ethnic, the Nigerian constitution expressly states that the
government shall not adopt any religion as state religion.
“Furthermore, section 38 of the constitution guarantees that every
Nigerian citizen is entitled to freedom of thought, conscience and
religion including freedom to change his/her religion or belief. And
freedom to manifest and propagate his/her religion or belief.
Religious liberty in Nigeria has never been in question, therefore any
claim contrary to that is completely false and untrue.
“The ministry wishes to assure that the Nigerian government will
engage the U.S government to express its displeasure and request that
Nigeria be removed from the list.”
The truth however is that for the last five or six years, many
Christian communities in some Northern states have been attacked
systematically by the marauding armed Fulani herdsmen.
Many Christians have also lost their lives just as over 100 Christian
communities in Southern Kaduna have been taken over by the advancing
armed Fulani herdsmen.
Both the Federal and Kaduna State governments actively supports these
attacks in Southern Kaduna because for the last four years, not one
attacker has been prosecuted by either Kaduna state governor or the
Federal Attorney General Mr. Abubakar Malami.
Ironically the three top government officials that need to act to
provide succour to these victims of deprivation of homelands and lives
are Fulani and they are President Muhammadu Buhari, the Federal
Attorney General Abubakar Malami and Governor Nasir El Rufai.
The HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) wrote to the
Federal Attorney General to demand that these armed Fulani herdsmen
accused of attacking Christian Communities in Southern Kaduna, Benue
State should be prosecuted. The Federal Attorney General and Minister
of Justice replied us and categorically stated that these killers can
not be prosecuted because he has no case files on the alleged crimes.
In Benue state, Christian communities were targeted and Catholic
priests killed but for five years the attackers have so far not been
arrested, prosecuted or punished.
In Kano state, even when section 10 of the Constitution categorically
prohibits the elevation of any religion as state religion, the state
government has clearly declared Islam as state religion. Christians
are deprived of their fundamental rights as citizens because they
cannot engage in such economic activities as selling beer and running
other social businesses.
In most states in the North, Christians cannot obtain licenses to
build places of Worship but in the South there is no restrictions on
the building of Mosques.
The Central government under President Buhari has also cornered most
of the strategic positions and posted Moslem and Northerners as
against the Federal character principles.
Under this current government of Muhammadu Buhari, you need to be a
Moslem of Hausa/Fulani or Kanuri lineage to get top security
appointments. in the area of employments at the Federal levels, there
are no level playing fields under the current government. So how is
anybody saying that the current Central government does not qualify to
be black listed when the government refused to rescue a school girl
because she is a Christian from Yobe state but others who are moslems
were released when two years ago they were violently abducted by
Islamic terrorists in the North East state of Yobe? Christian Pastors
are kidnapped and killed, Churches are burnt, but the Federal
administration which encourages discrimination against Christians is
doing nothing. Stiff sanctions against the person of the President
Muhammadu Buhari and his entire cabinet should be imposed.
EMMANUEL ONWUBIKO is head of the HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF
NIGERIA (HURIWA) and blogs @www. huriwanigeria.com [1],
www.huriwa@blogspot.com, www.thenigerianinsidernews.com [2].
Links:
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[1] http://huriwanigeria.com
[2] http://www.thenigerianinsidern