A new bill, which seeks to impose sanctions and other restrictions on individuals and bodies allegedly responsible for violating religious freedom in Nigeria, has been introduced to the US Congress, adding a new dimension to the recent frosty relationship between Nigeria and the United States.
The bill identifies Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) and Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore as entities to be sanctioned. Both organisations have been accused by some Nigerians in the past of masterminding some attacks by armed herders on rural communities. However, they have denied such allegations and instead said their members, who are cattle herders, were being attacked in different states.
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The new US bill recommends that the US Department of State and the Department of the Treasury impose a visa ban, asset freeze, and other restrictive measures as punishment for the alleged violations.
It recommended that the sanctions be imposed under the Global Magnitsky framework, a system of laws that allows the US government to target foreign individuals or entities involved in human rights abuses or corruption anywhere in the world.
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A Republican member of the US House of Representatives, Christopher Smith, introduced the bill on Tuesday, stating that Islamic terror organisations have carried out mass murder, rape, and kidnappings against mostly Christians and non-Fulani moderate Muslim populations.
These atrocities, he noted, have resulted in mass displacement and destruction of places of worship.
He argued that these actions seem to be part of a deliberate plan to create a Fulani-controlled empire.
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“Whereas prominent Christian and Muslim leaders have been kidnapped or assassinated, including priests, pastors, and imams who advocate for religious tolerance,” he said.
Commending President Trump for redesignating Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern, Mr Smith declared that northern Nigeria has “seen the destruction of over 18,000 churches since 2009’’ in attacks by Boko Haram militants, Fulani herdsmen, and others, according to a 2023 Vatican report.”
“Whereas an August 2024 report from the Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa found that approximately 56,000 people died in attacks and about 22,000 people were abducted by terror groups in Nigeria between October 2019 and September 2023.
“President Trump acted appropriately and decisively to redesignate Nigeria as a CPC and hold the Nigerian government accountable for its complicity in religious persecution by radical Islamists, such as Boko Haram and Fulani terrorists,” he said.
The bill must be passed by both houses of the US Congress and signed by President Donald Trump to become law. However, Mr Trump’s recent rhetoric against Nigeria and his designation of the country as a ‘Country of Particular Concern’ for alleged Christian massacre indicate that he would sign such a bill into law if it got to his desk.
Such a law could result in a travel ban and asset freeze on Miyetti Allah leaders, potentially affecting their ability to conduct international bank transfers or travel to the US and its allies.
Previous call for sanctions over alleged genocide
Mr Smith is not the first lawmaker to introduce a bill demanding sanctions on Nigeria over these allegations.
The designation of Nigeria as a CPC followed months of campaigns and demands by some Republican lawmakers for the US to sanction Nigeria for allowing the “persecution of Christians.”
In early October, a senator, Ted Cruz, introduced a bill which sought to sanction the Nigerian government for allegedly supporting terrorist efforts to eliminate the country’s Christian population.
The bill had framed the violent conflict in Nigeria as an anti-Christian crusade.
Mr Cruz claimed extremist groups have been going house to house, hunting down Christians for decades, killing wives, children, and Catholic priests in an attempt to rid the country of Christians.
Another Republican lawmaker, Riley Moore, who is a member of the House, wrote, days later, to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, demanding that the US use every diplomatic tool to stop what he described as the “slaughter of Christians.”
He demanded that Nigeria be designated a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) and that arms sales and technical support to the government be suspended.
“Muslim extremist groups such as ISIS-West Africa, Ansaru, and Boko Haram are major perpetrators. Just last week, Boko Haram ravaged Kirawa, Nigeria, displacing thousands.”
Then on 1 November, Mr Trump announced the designation of Nigeria as CPC and less than 24 hours after, threatened military action against the country.
PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that Mr Trump warned that the US military might be ordered to carry out attacks in the country and “wipe out the radical Islamic terrorist” responsible for the claimed attacks on Christians if the Nigerian government fails to act.
“If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the USA may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities,” he wrote on Truth Social.
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