A member of the US Congress, Rep. Riley Moore, has insisted that the United States should not remove Nigeria from its Country of Particular Concern (CPC) designation list over alleged persecution of Christians, citing continued violence in the Middle Belt.
Moore stated this on Wednesday in a post on his official X handle while responding to a statement by the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs.
The lawmaker backed the State Department’s call for the Nigerian government to protect Christian communities following a recent attack in Plateau State, saying Abuja must fulfil its commitments.
“We absolutely CANNOT remove the CPC designation from Nigeria while radical Islamic terrorists continue this horrific violence against Christians,” Moore wrote.
“@AsstSecStateAF is right. The Nigerian government must meet its commitments to protect innocent Christian communities,” he added.
Moore was reacting to a post by the US Bureau of African Affairs condemning the latest attack in Plateau State, where more than 24 people were reportedly killed and several others remained missing.
Residents in the affected communities said the attackers stormed the villages late at night and opened fire on people sleeping in their homes, leaving families displaced and mourning.
Community leaders described the attack as barbaric and senseless and called on the state and federal governments to deploy more security personnel to protect rural communities that they said had been repeatedly targeted.
The US Bureau of African Affairs said it was “horrified” by the attack, which it said killed dozens of people who were asleep in their homes in Plateau State.
“This is especially troubling coming on the heels of the recent CPC Working Group meeting. We extend our deepest condolences to the families of those missing and killed, and we strongly urge the Nigerian government to meet their commitments to protect Christian communities and to hold perpetrators of violence accountable,” the bureau said.
Moore’s comments and the Bureau’s statement signal renewed pressure from some US lawmakers and officials on the Trump administration to maintain Nigeria’s CPC designation amid persistent attacks in Plateau, Benue and other parts of the Middle Belt.
The Nigerian government has repeatedly rejected claims of religious targeting in the conflicts, describing the violence largely as a result of clashes over land and resources, as well as criminality.
The US designated Nigeria as a CPC in 2020 under the International Religious Freedom Act. The designation is applied to countries deemed to have engaged in or tolerated systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom.
Nigeria was removed from the list in 2021 but remained under close monitoring by the US State Department.
The Trump administration returned Nigeria to the CPC list last year. Since then, the US-Nigeria Joint Working Group referenced by the Bureau has met twice to review progress made following the designation and assess measures being taken by Abuja to address concerns raised by Washington.
The CPC designation is reviewed annually by the US State Department and is scheduled for its next review in November.
