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A Nigerian Catholic bishop recently offered a harrowing account of religious persecution in the country and called on the U.S. State Department to explain its decision for delisting the nation as one that merited “particular concern” on religious freedom.
“Since the United States has delisted Nigeria from countries of particular concern, what we would like to hear from the United States now is for them to explain to us, give us the data,’ said Bishop Stephen Dami Mamza of the Yola Diocese.
“How is it that Nigeria is different from Nigeria of two years ago? Because we that are living in Nigeria – when it comes to discrimination, when it comes to persecution of Christians, we are still feeling it. And we are still experiencing it. How is it that the Secretary of State [Antony Blinken] that lives outside – he doesn’t live in Nigeria, and he has not had any contact with us.
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“He has not met us and asked us questions. We have not interacted and just of a sudden we hear that Nigeria has been delisted. I think that this is really disheartening and all Christians in Nigeria are feeling very bad about it so we want to know … they can’t just delist without explaining. If they have statistics … we want to hear. But as far as we are concerned here now in Nigeria, the persecution is more intense now than ever.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends a ministerial meeting on Syria, on June 28, 2021, in Rome. (Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
His comments were aired during an event with the Religious Freedom Institute but were initially made in November, according to the organization.
“It is difficult to find any family that has not lost at least one person,” Mamza said.
Last year, former President Trump’s State Department designated Nigeria as a country of “particular concern” as it encountered rampant violence from the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram.
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Last month, the Biden administration removed the “particular concern” designation just before Secretary Blinken made a diplomatic visit to the African nation.
A State Department official told Fox News on Tuesday Blinken had “determined that the state of religious freedom in Nigeria did not meet the legal threshold to justify Nigeria’s continued designation as a country of particular concern.”
The department pointed to provisions within the International Religious Freedom Act, but declined to specify how it no longer met that legal threshold.
The choir master Patrick Onmepe walks among debris of the burnt building of St. Peter Catholic Church following attacks by Fulani herdsmen at Agatu community in Benue State, north-central Nigeria, on May 10, 2016. (AFP/EMMANUEL AREWA)
“Pursuant to the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, as amended (IRF Act), the secretary designates countries that have engaged in or tolerated ‘particularly severe violations of religious freedom’ as ‘countries of particular concern’ (CPCs).”
“The IRF Act defines particularly severe violations as ‘systematic, ongoing egregious violations of religious freedom,’ including violations such as: (1) torture; (2) prolonged detention without charges; (3) forced disappearance; or (4) other flagrant denial of life, liberty or security of persons.”
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However, on Thursday, a State Department spokesperson said, “We continue to have genuine concerns about the state of religious freedom in Nigeria, which are well documented in the annual IRF Report, and we will continue to press the government to address these.”
On Tuesday, a group of GOP senators called on Blinken to reverse the decision and asked the secretary for more information on his reasoning.
Sam Dorman is a reporter with Fox News. Follow him on Twitter @DormanInDC or at facebook.com/SamDormanFoxNews
