The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has accused the federal government of slow response to cases of violence unleashed by non-state actors by jihadists in different parts of the country.
In a new report, the commission, an independent, bipartisan US agency created to monitor, analyse, and report on religious freedom violations around the world, highlighted the curbing of religious freedoms by the country’s laws on blasphemy practiced by 12 states of the federation.
It stated that religious communities are facing ongoing, systematic, and egregious violations of their ability to practice their faith freely, with the prosecution and imprisoning of individuals perceived to have insulted religion.
Those targeted, the report said, include Christians, Muslims, traditional practitioners, and humanists.
Aside from monitoring, analysing and report on religious freedom violations around the world, the USCIRF makes policy recommendations to the US President, the Secretary of State, and Congress. These recommendations help shape US foreign policy to promote religious freedom globally.
“Furthermore, despite efforts to reduce violence by non-state actors, the government is often slow to react to violent attacks by Fulani herders, bandit gangs, or insurgents such as Jama’at Ahl al-Sunna lid-Dawah wa’al-Jihad (JAS/Boko Haram), the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), and other groups invoking Islam to commit acts of violence.
“This violence severely restricts religious practice and observance by Christians, Muslims, and traditional religious communities across many Nigerian states in the Middle Belt and in the northeast.
“Perpetrators of the violence have attacked religious sites including churches and mosques, kidnapped or killed religious leaders, and in some cases-used violence or threats of violence against religious communities while demanding so-called taxes, invoking Shari’a law as justification.
“Attacks targeting religious communities remain a major and ongoing threat to religious freedom in Nigeria and are increasing in frequency. In recent months, tensions across religious communities have significantly increased,” the USCIRF report stated.
In March, it stated that Catholic Bishop, Wilfred Anagbe, testified before the US House Foreign Affairs Committee on the increasing violence against Nigerian Christians in Benue State, adding that subsequent to testifying, he received threats by unidentified sources.
Despite efforts in reducing some attacks by bandits and violent extremists on religious communities, the government, it said, continues to fail to stop many deadly attacks against Christians, Muslims, and traditionalists.
Since 2009, and again in its 2025 Annual Report, USCIRF said it has recommended that the US Department of State designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing, and violations of religious freedom.
“While Nigeria’s 1999 constitution declares that federal and state governments cannot adopt an official religion, the country’s federal penal code criminalises actions or statements ‘persons consider as a public insult on their religion, with the intention that they should consider the act such an insult.’
“The constitution also grants state governments the authority to adjudicate criminal and noncriminal proceedings through Shari’a courts. Although these laws apply only to Muslims in theory, some states regularly disregard that limitation and broadly enforce Shari’a.
“State governments fine, charge, convict, and imprison non-Muslims-including Christians and humanists on related charges. Nigeria’s government permits 12 states in northern Nigeria, along with the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), to implement a Shari’a-based legal framework that criminalises blasphemy and related offences.
“Authorities in these jurisdictions additionally enforce a Shari’a-based penal code that levies corporal punishments such as caning, amputation, and stoning for a variety of offences,” it stressed.
In February, the European Parliament, it said, passed a resolution urging the Nigerian government to immediately release all prisoners convicted of blasphemy and repeal related laws at both the federal and state levels, citing them as violations of Nigeria’s obligations under international law.
Besides, in April, the Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), of which Nigeria is a founding member, the organisation stressed, ruled that the Kano State blasphemy provisions violate the country’s international legal commitments.
“Nigerian government leaders have hesitated to abolish Shari’a codes, citing possible mob violence by those that support the laws. Despite releasing Christian nurse Rhoda Jatau in 2023 and humanist Mubarak Bala in early 2025, both of whom were charged and convicted under blasphemy laws.
“State government authorities continue to hold Sufi Muslim Yahaya Sharif-Amin after his arrest in 2022 for sharing audio messages deemed ‘insulting to the religious creed”, the report added.
Despite the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner demanding the Nigerian government immediately and unconditionally release him, the authorities, it said, arrested Sufi Sheikh Abduljabar Nasiru Kalara for blasphemy in 2021 and sentenced him to death in 2022.
“He remains in prison as of May 2025. The government arrested Isma’ila Sani Isah on blasphemy charges in 2021, and he remains in prison as well. Sufi cleric Abdulazeez Inyass, whom police arrested in 2015 on similar blasphemy charges, remains in prison under a death sentence.
“In March, the northern Nigerian states of Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, and Bauchi closed all grade schools, including public and Christian institutions, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Religious leaders-including Catholic bishops-criticised the decision, emphasising the importance of maintaining Nigeria’s secular state status,” the report added.
Besides, the US agency stated that ethno-religious strife in the Middle Belt of Nigeria between Fulani herders, who are predominantly Muslim, and farmers, who are mostly Christian, is further exacerbated by ongoing attacks, often with fatal results.
Attacks in Benue and Plateau states, it said, killed at least 284, with 70 casualties in late April alone. That month, Fulani herders attacked a bus in Benue State, killing two people and kidnapping 13, it added.
In May, in Kogi State, it disclosed that Fulani herders reportedly abducted pastors Adura Kayode and Kingsley Ebing of the City of Grace Prophetic Liberation Church during a vigil, but a local leader later intervened for their successful release.
Although these attacks prompted President Bola Tinubu to order security agencies to bring an end to the ongoing violence, it argued that armed Fulani herders are spreading south, with 55 herder groups currently active in the region.
“While the south historically has experienced relatively peaceful coexistence between religious groups, this new presence carries a risk of increased instability. Furthermore, the significant number of Christians killed in the attacks exacerbates the community’s fear that its members will be violently targeted over their faith,” the agency stressed.
It added: “Nigeria’s federal and state authorities continue to tolerate attacks by nonstate entities who often justify their violence on the basis of a religious ideology and specifically target vulnerable religious communities.
“Extremists justifying violence on Islamic religious grounds and some violent Fulani herder groups have expressed a goal of overthrowing Nigeria’s current secular form of government.”
It deplored the use of misinformation by generally unidentified actors, which it said has recently had a deleterious impact on the safety of religious communities across the country.
Although one alternative to deploying usually scarce police personnel or military units to combat violent insurgents is the recruitment of local armed volunteers, often called vigilantes, the US agency noted that vigilante groups have at times appeared to target people on the basis of religion and have faced little accountability for these actions.
“Nigeria’s legal system imposes systematic restrictions on freedom of religion or belief, specifically with its use of blasphemy laws in 12 states.
“Deadly attacks in Nigeria by violent groups as well as kidnappings by bandit gangs targeting religious communities prevent Christians, Muslims, Humanists, and traditionalists from openly and freely practicing their religion or belief,” the report said.
Emmanuel Addeh
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