The United States has imposed visa ban on individuals who have directed, authorised or supported violations of religious freedom.
The restriction may also affect their immediate family members.
The Department of State, in a statement yesterday titled: ‘Combating Egregious Anti-Christian Violence in Nigeria and Globally,’ said the United States was taking a decisive action in response to the mass killings and violence against Christians by radical terrorists, ethnic militia and other violent actors in Nigeria and beyond.
But the statement did not name the affected officials.
The statement said: “A new policy under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act will allow the State Department to restrict visa issuance to individuals who have directed, authorised, significantly supported, participated in, or carried out violations of religious freedom and, where appropriate, their immediate family members.
“As President Trump made clear, the ‘United States cannot stand by while such atrocities are happening in Nigeria, and numerous other countries.’ This policy will apply to Nigeria and any other governments or individuals engaged in violations of religious freedom.”
President Trump last month designated Nigeria as Country of Particular Concern (CPC) over alleged persecution of Christians.
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This has been denied by the Federal Government and many well-meaning Nigerians.
Minister of Information and National Orientation Mohammed Idris affirmed that there is no government complicity in the insurgency in parts of the country.
He said the criminal elements terrorizing Nigerians do not spare any religion in their dastardly attacks.
Nigeria’s delegation, led by National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, had visited the United States with evidence that there is no religious persecution in the country.
The Federal Government had also been adopting measures to combat the insurgents.
Part of these is the change of guards at the military High Command to step up the battle.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has personally taken charge as Commander in Chief. He cancelled his plan to attend the G20 Summit in South Africa and the African Union-European Union Summit in Angola last month.
Also yesterday, the United States House Appropriators and Foreign Affairs leaders convened a rare joint briefing as part of a broader congressional investigation into what lawmakers and experts described as escalating and targeted violence against Christians in Nigeria.
The session, led by House Appropriations Vice Chair and National Security Sub-committee Chairman Mario Díaz-Balart, R-Fla., followed a comprehensive report ordered by President Donald Trump on alleged killings of Christians and potential policy steps the U.S. could take to pressure Nigeria to respond.
Trump had directed the Congress, led by Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.Va., and Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., to probe alleged Christian persecution in Nigeria and produce a report for the White House to review.
He had also directed military action against religious militants who kill.
Vicky Hartzler, chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, told lawmakers that “religious freedom [is] under siege,” citing the abduction of more than 300 children and attacks in which “radical Muslims kill entire Christian villages [and] burn churches.”
She said violations were “rampant,” “violent,” and disproportionately affect Christians who, she argued, were targeted “at a 2.2 to 1 rate”, compared with Muslims.
Hartzler said Nigeria had taken some initial corrective steps, including reassigning about 100,000 police officers from VIP protection but warned that the country was entering a “coordinated and deeply troubling period of escalated violence.”
She recommended targeted sanctions on Nigerian officials “who have demonstrated complicity,” visa restrictions, blocking U.S.-based assets, and conditioning foreign and humanitarian aid on measurable accountability.
She also urged the Congress to direct the Government Accountability Office to conduct a review of past U.S. assistance, adding that Nigeria should retake villages seized from Christian farming communities, so widows and children could return home.
