A United States Congressman, Chris Smith, has suggested that the US Government may impose sanctions and other economic penalties on the Nigerian government following the escalation of attacks and killings of mostly Christian communities in Nigeria and the seeming inability of the Nigerian authorities to curb the killings.
Smith, the Committee chair, stated this in his opening remarks at the House Foreign Affairs Africa and Western Hemisphere Subcommittees’ February 4th joint hearing, entitled “Defending Religious Freedom Around the World.”
The politician from New Jersey noted that although President Donald Trump, in October last year, designated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), the US may need to impose other strident measures to tackle the increasing spate of attacks against Christians and non-radical Muslims by terrorists operating in parts of Nigeria, especially the Middle Belt region.
He said, “Now, while the iron is hot, we must urge the government of Nigeria to protect the rights of persecuted Christians and non-radical Muslims. The CPC designation is a phenomenal first step, but in statute, it is accompanied by 15 different policy tools—including sanctions and other economic penalties that can and must be employed to improve the situation on the ground.
“We cannot take our eye off the ball. Christians in the Middle Belt are still being massacred. The government of Nigeria has taken small steps, but a culture of denial by Nigerian officials persists.”
He expressed concern that the Nigerian government reportedly hired the K-Street lobbying firm DCI for $9 million (about $750,000 a month), adding that a Nigerian billionaire has entered into a $120,000-a-month contract with Valcour to influence Congress and the Executive Branch.
He pointed out that President Trump in his first administration, with the strong backing of his Ambassador-at-Large San Brownback, who testified at my 2020 hearing, President Trump recognized that the mass killings by Boko Haram, ISIS West Africa, and armed Fulani terrorists against Christians in the Middle Belt, which were clearly motivated by ethnic and religious animus, meant Nigeria met the criteria for a CPC designation, and was so designated.
He condemned former President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Antony Blinken for taking Nigeria off the list—effectively giving the Nigerian government a free pass for enabling religious violence, adding that putting Nigeria back into the CPC list was the right action, as the country, according to Genocide Watch, “is a killing field of defenceless Christians”.
On December 25, 2025, President Trump announced through his Truth Social that he ordered the bombing of terrorist camps in Sokoto state, northwest Nigeria, in collaboration with the Nigerian government, which he claimed killed many terrorists even as he threatened to inflict more airstrikes on the Jihadists if the attacks against innocent people continue.
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