FG fires back at US over ‘special watch list’ comment

Jennifer Y Omiloli

The Federal Government on Sunday has fired back at the US by accusing the United States of attempting to sow a seed of religious discord among the various religious groups in Nigeria with its recent report.

The US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, had recently announced Nigeria as one of the countries in the country’s “Special Watch List” of nations that tolerated religious violations in their territory

In a statement issued in Abuja, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said the federal government rejected the US designation of Nigeria as “a country that engages in or tolerates severe violations of religious freedom.”

He said in part: “The deliberate effort to give religious colouration to the farmers-herders clashes and the Boko Haram insurgency, in particular, has undoubtedly helped to mislead the US into concluding that the government is doing little or nothing to guarantee religious freedom in the country.

“But, as we have always said, the farmers-herders clashes have nothing to do with religion, but everything to do with environmental and socio-economic realities.

“The religious tag given to the clashes has no basis in fact, but it is very convenient for those who will very easily give the dog a bad name just to hang it.

“On its part, the Boko Haram terrorists are extreme fanatics who do not subscribe to the tenets of any religion, in spite of their pretence to Islamic adherence.

“On the El-Zakzaky issue, which was referred to in the report by the US government, it is purely a criminal matter, which is being handled by a court of competent jurisdiction,”