Denver Newsroom, Jan 28, 2022 / 18:01 pm
Victims of persecution in Nigeria must be listened to, an expert on the persecution of Christians told students at the Franciscan University of Steubenville on Friday.
Stephen Rasche, an American lawyer who has worked extensively in persecuted Christian communities in Iraq and Nigeria, told students that the Nigerian government has largely abdicated its responsibility to keep its citizens safe, resulting in widespread religiously motivated violence and a general lawlessness in the northern part of the country.
To make matters worse, he said, the United States Secretary of State this year, for as-yet undisclosed reasons, no longer lists Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” on a watchlist of countries with the most egregious violations of religious freedom. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has been recommending the designation of Nigeria as a CPC since 2009.
“The result of that is that the Christians are just out of options in terms of getting governments to recognize the truth of what’s happening,” Rasche said.