IPOB Spent Millions Of Dollars To Mislead US Government To Blacklist Nigeria Over Religious Freedom Violations—Buhari Presidency

 IPOB Spent Millions Of Dollars To Mislead US Government To Blacklist Nigeria Over Religious Freedom Violations—Buhari Presidency Garba Sheh...

 IPOB Spent Millions Of Dollars To Mislead US Government To Blacklist Nigeria Over Religious Freedom Violations—Buhari Presidency

Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President Muhammadu Buhari (Media & Publicity) has accused the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) of misleading the US government to blacklist Nigeria for “engaging (in) systematic, ongoing, egregious religious freedom violations”.

In December 2020, the US-listed Nigeria among countries blacklisted for “violating religious freedom”.

But in a a statement on Wednesday, Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State, announced 10 countries “of particular concern”, with Nigeria now missing from the list.

In a reaction to the development, Shehu said Nigeria does not engage in religious freedom violation or have a policy of religious persecution.

He said the ban came on the heels of 12 months of lies by some “extremist groups and the banned terrorist group the Independent People of Biafra, IPOB’s well-funded international media campaign.”

He said the country was included on the list after IPOB allegedly paid right-wing American lobbyists millions of dollars to spread falsehoods and misinformation about Nigeria. 

 “The removal of Nigeria from the religious violators watchlist by the Biden-led US administration in the run-up to the visit of Antony Blinken, the Secretary of State is a triumph of diplomacy and sagacity over hate-driven foreign policy, itself founded on false propaganda,” Shehu said.

“President Muhammadu Buhari is truly satisfied with the decision by the United States to remove Nigeria from that unwanted list of countries. Blinken said the decision of the Joe Biden Government on this was “based on facts.” 

“In expressing the country’s appreciation for this, the President noted that there is freedom of worship in Nigeria, and no one is discriminated against on the basis of his or her faith. Since Nigeria was included in December 2020, in the aftermath of the Donald Trump’s election loss, it has taken only 11 months for this decision to be reversed under the Biden administration. 

“This sad and uncalled for ban came on the heels of 12 months of lies by some extremist groups and the banned terrorist group the Independent People of Biafra, IPOB’s well-funded international media campaign. 

“Nigeria should never have been on the list. It was included after paid right-wing American lobbyists were funded millions of dollars by IPOB to spread falsehoods and misinformation about Nigeria. Those who willingly took money from terrorists spread falsehoods against a democratically elected government. They took advantage of well-meaning, God-fearing Americans to whom they spread their lies.

Meanwhile,the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) on Thursday said that Nigeria under President Muhammadu Buhari remains on its religious freedom violators watch list. The USCIRF directly responsible for enlisting countries in the United States Special Watch List, in a statement, said it was displeased with the U.S. Department of States for removing Nigeria from its “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) designation. “USCIRF is disappointed that the State Department did not adopt our recommendations in designating the countries that are the worst violators of religious freedom,” the statement quoted USCIRF Commissioner Nadine Maenza as saying.

She stressed that the State Department didn’t adopt the commission’s recommendation that rightfully placed Nigeria as one of the worst violators of religious freedom.

“While the State Department took steps forward on some designations, USCIRF is especially displeased with the removal of Nigeria from its CPC designation, where it was rightfully placed last year, as well as the omission of India, Syria, and Vietnam,” she added.

On Wednesday, the Department of State went beyond its purview to remove Nigeria from the list of religious violators without adopting recommendations of USCIRF.

Making the announcement, U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said that the United States Government removed Nigeria from its list of religious violators, blacklisting China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and seven other nations as countries of particular concern for engaging in or tolerating systemic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom.

However, USCIRF faulted the report urging the State Department to reconsider its designation based on facts. In December 2019, the U.S. government enlisted Nigeria on its “Special Watch List of countries that have engaged in or tolerated “severe violations of religious freedom. The blacklisting came at a time when many criticised the Nigerian government over its incessant violations of court orders and the shrinking civic and media space in the country.