•Biden administration turns “election-deniers” on world’s deadliest country for Christians

By EMMANUEL OGEBE

Last week, the US State Department published the list of countries with Religious Freedom violations. Nigeria, which research shows has been the deadliest country in the world for Christians for nine out of the last ten years was conspicuously absent from the entire State Department rankings on which it has consistently appeared for 20 years prior to President Biden’s administration.

In 2020, Nigeria attained the highest violator group of Country of Particular Concern (CPC) but since then mysteriously disappeared not because conditions improved in Nigeria but because of a change in the US government in power.

The action of the State Department is the height of deceit, deception and intellectual dishonesty. It didn’t simply move the goal post mid play but basically stole the ballots and ran off!

Secretary Blinken has introduced a new level of diplomatic fraud that is befuddling and tragically reminiscent of Holocaust-denial and more recently “election-denial.”

Unable to face the reality and overwhelming evidence of religious persecution in Nigeria, the state department took the cowardly option of simply hiding the ball!

This situation is alarming because very recent history shows such policy fraud will be exposed and secondly it has dire consequences.

Secretary Clinton rebuffed multiple entreaties from us in the human rights and religious freedom community and even US agencies to designate top global terror group Boko Haram a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” – now recognized as one of her signal failings.

Secretary Blinken has done worse than Clinton by not merely ignoring evidence but for rigging the report.

Just last week, former president Trump stirred controversy by calling for suspension of the constitution of America. Similarly, Secretary Blinken has literally and illegally suspended the consideration of Nigeria as required by him under the IRFA (Frank Wolf’s Law.)

The travesty is that he did this barely a month after ordering the evacuation of most American diplomats and their families out of Abuja due to Islamists’ failed attempt to blow up American diplomats’ homes in Nigeria.

As such the State Department’s State of Denial has continued to claim the lives of Nigerians needlessly and threatens the lives of Americans as well. Like Dr King said, “injustice anywhere is a threat to Justice everywhere!”

The US continuously fails to acknowledge its role in the worsening of the terror situation in Nigeria and West Africa namely:

* the US invasion of Afghanistan and the freeing of Nigerian foreign fighters of Al Qaeda, allowed them return to Nigeria and foster Boko Haram

* the US/NATO invasion of Libya resulted in massive arms proliferation into terrorist elements in Nigeria and West Africa

* the US dislodgement of ISIS in Iraq led to a relocation and realignment in Nigeria as ISWA

the US/NATO arming of Ukraine has led to the influx of more arms in terrorist hands in West Africa

* the US refusal to acknowledge and address global jihadi ties to Nigeria have led to influx of arms from Hamas and Iran

* the US failure to enforce the FTO sanctions which we successfully pushed for nine years ago last month has enabled arms smuggling into Nigeria by Turkish Airlines

Finally, this disrespects all the martyrs of religious persecution, those imprisoned, raped and otherwise and it is especially a disservice to American victims in Nigeria as well.

For the rest of this year, we will release the identities of American victims of terror in Nigeria, who have been covered up by the State Department, every week along with Nigerian victims.

President Biden said, “you can’t love your country only when you win.” We say to Secretary Blinken, “you can’t not report on Nigeria only when Democrats win.”

The Secretary of State cannot just wish away a country’s listing whimsically or capriciously. America is a nation of law and due process – not a dictatorship.

•Emmanuel Ogebe writes from US Nigeria Law Group Washington, USA.

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