Mike Pompeo, a former U.S. Secretary of State, has alleged that Islamic militants have slaughtered many Christians in northern Nigeria.
Pompeo, a former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), made the allegation in a post published on the website of the American Center for Law and Justice.
Last year, according to the human rights group Open Doors, 90% of Christians murdered for their faith worldwide were killed in Nigeria.
Pompeo wrote:
“This staggering number is up from 80% just one year before. We should remember that Christians comprise nearly half the population of Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa by far.
“Yet the Nigerian government – in fear of the radical Islamic militants who continue to pour in through the country’s northern border – continues to persist in its official stance of denial of religious persecution.”
He accused the Joe Biden-led administration of continuing to live in denial of what is happening in the restive northern Nigeria region.
He added:
“We knew Nigeria was tolerating the systematic, violent persecution of its Christians.
“My team and I at the State Department placed Nigeria’s government on the Countries of Particular Concern list so that we could impose serious consequences if it did not confront the evil extremist groups metastasizing within its borders.
“Unfortunately and predictably, Team Biden not only reversed our good work but also failed to replace it with anything meaningful.”
Pompeo, currently a Senior Counsel for Global Affairs at the American Center for Law and Justice, stated that the Biden administration’s approach to the crisis in Nigeria is intentional.
He noted:
“Its continued failure to fight for religious freedom abroad is symptomatic of the progressive ideology to which it subscribes. This shift in focus at the highest levels of our government has had devastating consequences.
“It means the Biden administration is woefully unprepared to deal with the very real problem of rising Islamic terror against Christians because it cannot even acknowledge that persecution is occurring for religious reasons.”
According to the Global Terrorism Index, Sub-Saharan Africa, where Nigeria is located, has now become the “new epicenter of terrorism.”
