Rampant Attacks and Killings: Again, US Congressman Raises Fresh Allegation Against Tinubu
- US Congressman Bill Huizenga accused President Bola Tinubu’s administration of sitting back and failing to address worsening insecurity in Nigeria
- Huizenga criticised the Tinubu government for downplaying the crisis and condemned media and congressional inaction on killings
- The lawmaker recalled the Christmas Eve 2023 attack that killed 200 people and questioned the pattern of religious attacks in the country
US Congressman Bill Huizenga has accused President Bola Tinubu’s administration of “sitting back” and failing to tackle worsening insecurity in Nigeria.
He made the claims on Thursday, November 20, while testifying before the US House Subcommittee on Africa, which is reviewing Nigeria’s redesignation as a country of particular concern (CPC).
Source: UGC
Tinubu government criticised for downplaying crisis
Huizenga directly faulted the Tinubu administration’s response, alleging that Nigeria’s delegation had downplayed the scale of the crisis in Washington, Vanguard reported.
“It ought to be outrageous that it is Christians, moderate Muslims, and anyone being terrorised by these radicalised Islamists in Nigeria, and we’ve got the Tinubu government sitting back and not doing enough.
"I was recently interviewed by Nigerian television, and that was really their question. Is the Tinubu government doing enough? And I had to answer, ‘No, they are not,’” the congressman said.
He added,
“And I do not understand how a delegation can come here to the United States and downplay and come up with all of these other excuses as to why this is allowed to happen. It should be rejected, and should be called out for what it is.”
Media and congressional inaction also criticised
Huizenga further criticised the media and some members of Congress for “denying” or “de-emphasising” the scale of killings in Nigeria, Channels Television reported.
“I went to school with kids from Nigeria. We’ve got neighbours who’ve been missionaries there, who have family there, who have friends there, who know this is going on. Yet, we’ve got not just the mass media, we’ve got people within the Congress denying that this is happening, or certainly de-emphasising it,” he said.
Christmas Eve 2023 attack recalled
The lawmaker recalled a Christmas Eve 2023 attack that killed 200 people, citing it as evidence that security conditions had not improved. Questioning the pattern of religious attacks, he asked,
“Do we see Christians killing Muslims the way radicalised Islamists kill Christians in Muslim areas?”
Committee to hear from officials and religious leaders
Thursday’s hearing comes after US President Donald Trump reinstated Nigeria on the CPC list on 31 October 2025, citing systematic persecution of Christians and reviewing potential military options.
The committee will also hear from senior US State Department officials and Nigerian religious leaders.
Nigerian government rejects allegations
Source: Twitter
The Nigerian Government has rejected the accusations. President Tinubu said, “Nigeria stands firmly as a democracy governed by constitutional guarantees of religious liberty. The characterisation of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our reality.”
Nigeria was first designated a CPC in 2020 under former President Trump, before being removed from the list by President Joe Biden shortly after assuming office.
US congressman seeks pardon for Adamawa farmer
A member of the United States House of Representatives, Riley Moore, has urged the Nigerian government to pardon Adamawa farmer Sunday Jackson, who is currently on death row for killing a herdsman during a 2015 confrontation.
Speaking on Thursday, November 21, at a US House hearing on President Donald Trump’s redesignation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern, Moore argued that Jackson’s conviction failed to reflect the circumstances of the incident.
Source: Legit.ng
