from EMEKA OKONKWO in Abuja, Nigeria
Nigeria Bureau
ABUJA, (CAJ News) – THE United States (US) is to implement a new policy allowing the State Department to restrict visa issuance to perpetrators blamed for the violation of religious rights in Nigeria.
The policy, under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, will be imposed on individuals who have directed, authorised, significantly supported, participated in, or carried out violations of religious freedom and, where appropriate, their immediate family members.
Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, confirmed the development on Wednesday evening, Nigeria time, in a note titled, “Combating Egregious Anti-Christian Violence in Nigeria and Globally.”
“The United States is taking decisive action in response to the mass killings and violence against Christians by radical Islamic terrorists, Fulani ethnic militias and other violent actors in Nigeria and beyond,” it read.
Rubio quoted President Donald Trump as “making it clear” the “United States cannot stand by while such atrocities are happening in Nigeria, and numerous other countries.”
“This policy will apply to Nigeria and any other governments or individuals engaged in violations of religious freedom,” Rubio said.
Nigeria has in recent months experienced a renewed spate of mass kidnappings, especially worshippers and students.
With an estimated population of 237 million people, Africa’s most populous country is broadly and geographically divided between a predominantly Muslim north and a largely Christian south.
Most of the violence is blamed on the Islamist Boko Haram and its splinter groups, kidnap-for-ransom gangs and clashes over land resources between largely Christian farmers and Muslim livestock owners.
– CAJ News