FG Refutes US Claims of Religious Persecution, Insists on Neutral Legal System

The Federal Government has dismissed claims by the United States that Nigeria engages in religious persecution, describing the allegation as a misrepresentation of the nation’s social and legal systems.

During a meeting with the diplomatic corps in Abuja, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dunoma Ahmed, stated that Nigeria’s laws are religion-neutral and protect all citizens equally. He clarified that there is no offence of blasphemy in national law, noting that Shari’a laws in some northern states apply only to Muslims under the oversight of the secular judicial system. According to him, both Christian and Muslim institutions operate freely and promote peaceful coexistence.

Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, also faulted Washington’s classification of Nigeria as a “country of particular concern.” He argued that terrorism and other forms of violence in the country are criminal, not religious, in nature. Idris revealed that since President Bola Tinubu assumed office in May 2023, security forces have neutralised over 13,500 terrorists, arrested 17,000 suspects, and rescued nearly 9,850 abducted persons. He emphasised that the administration is engaging diplomatic channels to correct what he termed a “misjudgment of Nigeria’s reality.”

Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, in a letter to former US President Donald Trump, described reports of targeted killings of Christians in Nigeria as false and exaggerated. Keyamo, a Christian himself, cited Tinubu’s record of tolerance, noting that the President’s wife, Oluremi Tinubu, is a pastor, and his children are practising Christians.

Former INEC National Commissioner, Prof. Lai Olurode, urged the Federal Government to adopt diplomacy rather than emotional responses, warning against straining ties with the US. Similarly, former presidential aide, Senator Ita Enang, advised restraint and a unified national approach to foreign policy, cautioning against impulsive public statements.

Meanwhile, Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sunday Aneke, convened a meeting with all Air Component Commanders, directing them to intensify precision strikes and coordinate efforts with other security agencies to eliminate terrorism and criminality nationwide.