New Bill Demands Answers on Why Biden Abandoned Persecuted Christians in Nigeria

When Persecution Becomes Policy

Here’s something that should make your blood boil. While American politicians spent four years talking about our commitment to human rights and religious freedom, they quietly removed Nigeria from the list of countries we’re supposed to be watching for religious persecution. That happened under Biden, and it wasn’t an accident.

Now House Republicans are doing what should’ve been done years ago. Reps. Chris Smith of New Jersey and Riley Moore of West Virginia just introduced the Nigeria Religious Freedom and Accountability Act. It’s not asking for much, really. Just some honesty. Just some reports on what we’re actually doing to protect Christians who are being slaughtered by jihadist groups while the world scrolls past their suffering on social media.

The bill supports President Trump’s decision to redesignate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern for religious freedom. That’s bureaucrat speak for a place where people are dying because of their faith and the government isn’t stopping it. Trump put Nigeria on that list during his first term. Biden took them off. Trump put them back on in October. You’d think protecting persecuted Christians wouldn’t be a partisan issue, but here we are.

The Blasphemy Problem Nobody Wants to Talk About

Let’s get specific about what’s happening on the ground. Several Muslim-majority states in Nigeria have blasphemy laws. Think about that for a second. Laws that criminalize speech about religion. Laws that can get you killed for saying the wrong thing about someone’s faith. This isn’t medieval Europe. This is happening right now, and the Nigerian government has done precisely nothing to eliminate these laws.

The new bill would require the State Department to document whether Nigeria is making any real effort to get rid of these blasphemy statutes. It’s a simple ask. Are they trying or not? Because if we’re going to maintain diplomatic relations and potentially send aid to a country, we should at least know if they’re moving toward religious freedom or away from it.

And here’s where it gets interesting. The bill also asks the State Department to monitor individual jihadist groups operating in Nigeria to see if they qualify as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. You know what that means? Sanctions. Penalties. Actual consequences for groups that are murdering Christians in their homes and churches.

Why This Matters Beyond Nigeria

This isn’t just about one country in West Africa. It’s about whether America still stands for anything beyond our own borders. Religious freedom used to be something both parties defended without hesitation. Now it’s become another political football, tossed around depending on who’s in the White House.

The bill would require an initial report from the State Department within 90 days of passing, then annual reports after that. That’s accountability. That’s transparency. That’s what governance is supposed to look like when you’re serious about protecting fundamental human rights.

Religious freedom advocates were rightfully outraged when Biden removed Nigeria from the CPC list. It sent a message that American support for persecuted Christians was negotiable, subject to change based on political calculations we’ll never fully understand. That’s unacceptable. When people are dying for their faith, our response shouldn’t depend on election cycles.

The reality is that jihadist terror groups in Nigeria have been targeting Christians for years. Entire villages wiped out. Churches burned. Families destroyed. And for a while there, our government’s official position was essentially to look the other way.

This bill is a course correction. It’s Republicans saying enough is enough, we’re going to demand answers about what we’re doing to help and what we’re doing to pressure the Nigerian government to take this seriously. It’s not complicated. It’s not asking for military intervention or nation building. It’s asking for reports, for monitoring, for basic accountability.

That’s not too much to ask. In fact, it’s the bare minimum we should expect from a country that claims to care about human rights and religious freedom. The question is whether enough members of Congress will have the spine to pass it.