One is constrained to throw the big question as shown in the title of this piece for more than two reasons.
First, it is on record that the U.S Department of State under International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) first designated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) on 2nd December 2020 during the first coming of Donald Trump as President. The designation was lifted by the U.S on 17th November 2021 under the presidency of Joe Budden.
It’s curious that the same Trump, who returned to power a couple of years ago still slammed Nigeria, a few hours ago, with the same appellation, based majorly on false security and or diplomatic narration of what Nigeria is all about, though there may be some kind of positive points embedded in it for Nigeria.
Let us first understand the concept and implementations of the United States designating a country a “Country of Particular Concern (CPC).” Such designation carries significant diplomatic, political and sometimes economic implications.
The designation is made under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998 of the United States, and it applies to countries that engage in or tolerate particularly severe violations of religious freedom.
The U.S. Department of State, through its Office, of International Religious Freedom, designates CPCs annually.
A “particularly severe violation of religious freedom” means systematic, ongoing and egregious violations, such as torture, prolonged detention or persecution based on religion.
A country so designated faces subtle diplomatic Pressure. As a matter of fact, the designation is a strong form of official condemnation by the U.S government and it can strain diplomatic relations between the U.S. and the designated country.
The U.S often uses this as a tool to push for policy changes, such as the release of prisoners of conscience or reforms to religious laws.
Once designated, a country may face U.S sanctions under various laws, such as economic sanctions, including restrictions on aid or trade, arms embargoes or restrictions on security assistance and travel bans on certain officials involved in abuses.
Being labeled a CPC can damage a country’s international reputation, especially regarding human rights.
It can affect foreign investment, tourism, and international cooperation.
The country might face increased scrutiny from international organizations, NGOs and other governments.
The U.S often pairs CPC designation with recommendations and dialogue.
Some countries make policy or legal changes to be removed from the list, by repealing anti-conversion or blasphemy laws.
Countries that have been designated as CPCs include China, for persecution of Uyghur Muslims, Christians and Falun Gong practitioners; North Korea, for systematic repression of all religious activity; Iran, for persecution of Baháʼís and other minorities and Eritrea, for detention and torture of religious adherents outside state-approved faiths.
In the case of Nigeria, the U.S (President Trump) got the circumstances for designating the country as CPC wrong.
It is not as if the situation in Nigeria is that of “we and them.” In other words, it is not a situation where christians are grouped in one side (of the country) and Muslims are grouped in another side. Or it is not as if Muslims line up Christians and begin to kill them in a row (genocide, according to the picture being painted).
It is indeed, a common knowledge that Muslims and Christians live together in many communities in the country, even with cases where you get Christians and Muslims as members of the same family. There are also cases where the adherencts of the two major religions intermarry, bear children that embrace religion of their choice in-between.
Secondly, the religious insurgents, like Boko Haram, and its like claim to be Islamic base, but have been fighting and killing just anybody that is at variance with their morbid concepts, beliefs and practices, whether Muslims, Christians or anyone else.
Thirdly, the headquarters of Boko Haram is in Borno state, with over 90 percent Muslims making up the population and therefore, it is clear that most of the victims of Boko Haram are Muslims. The same thing applies to places like Yobe State and other states in the core North.
If Christians are being killed in their hundreds (genocide) for example, Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah would not have found it comfortable to live in Sokoto, the headquarters of Khalifate, as Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Sokoto. He was appointed as Bishop of Sokoto Diocese by Pope Benedict XVI on June 10, 2011, and consecrated on September 8, 2011.
The Sokoto Diocese covers the northwestern part of Nigeria, a region with a predominantly Muslim population and a small Christian minority.
There are thousands and millions of Christians in many parts of the northern Nigeria, either as indigenes or none indigenes that would prefer to remain in the North than going to elsewhere in the country to live.
However, the good thing about Trump designating Nigeria as Country of Particular Concern is the possibility of accelerating solution to the lingering security challenges, posed by insurgents, the bandits and other criminals, which many sane people believe, some leaders in different sections, are or have been benefiting from.
The provision in the Act instituting CPC which gives the U.S the power to issue travel ban and probably seize the assets of those who are identified as beneficiaries and or sponsors of the security challenges, should be fully implemented, believing that the U.S has their list.
All said, it is obviously a shame on the leadership of Nigeria that they allow a situation which they can easily handle to degenerate to a point where another sovereign nation like Nigeria would have to intervene for the purpose of sanitizing the system that has gone unruly.
By my orientation and belief, I have never agreed that America has any special qualifications to play the role of God as they often want to show but, by my patriotic instinct, the Americans or even any other nation, is welcome to put our leaders, as much as possible, on the right track to sanity.
After all, Boko Haram, Bandits, kidnappers and their likes are not invincibles, and couldn’t have been invincibles for all these years they have reign terror on our individual and collective security.
Sentiment apart, what President Trump is simply implying, especially in threatening to invade Nigeria to wipe out terrorists and bandits, is that the country (Nigeria) has no proactive, performing and caring leaders to save the citizens from lingering insecurity.
