The U.S. House Subcommittee on Africa convened on Thursday to discuss the ongoing persecution of Christians in Nigeria. Subcommittee Chairman Chris Smith, a Republican from New Jersey, characterized the situation as a “systematic and accelerating violence against predominantly Christian communities in Nigeria.”

Lawmakers from both political parties engaged with administration officials and expert witnesses to delve into the issues. Testimonies highlighted the widespread breakdown of security, frequent mass killings, kidnappings, and the climate of impunity that has turned Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, into what some describe as “the deadliest place on Earth to be a Christian.”

Smith, who has been a vocal advocate against the persecution of Christians in Nigeria, painted a vivid picture of the dire circumstances facing the community.

In a display of solidarity, Christians carried signs as they marched through the streets of Abuja on March 1, 2020, during a prayer and penance event aimed at seeking peace and security in Nigeria. Organized by the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria, the event brought together believers and others to condemn the brutal killings by Boko Haram insurgents and the rampant kidnappings for ransom across the country. (Photo by KOLA SULAIMON/AFP via Getty Images)

“Nigeria stands as ground zero, the epicenter of the most vicious and deadly anti-Christian persecution in the world today,” Smith declared.

He called the session “a very critical hearing,” noting it was his 12th such hearing and that he has led three human rights trips to the country.

Quoting earlier testimony from Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of the Makurdi Diocese, Smith cited militants who “kill and boast about it …  kidnap and rape and enjoy total impunity from elected officials.”

He highlighted a June 13 attack in Yola, saying reports showed “278 people — men, women and children — were killed in a manner too gory to describe by people shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ while slaughtering their victims.”

“This is not random violence. It is deliberate persecution,” Smith said. “There may be other factors, but religion is driving this.”

Smith also noted that moderate Muslims who speak out against extremists are often murdered as well, underscoring the scope of Nigeria’s “culture of denial.”

At least 51 Christians were killed in another attack in Nigeria’s Plateau state.  (Reuters)

Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., the panel’s ranking member, agreed Nigeria faces devastating insecurity but warned against “oversimplistic narratives.”

She cited overlapping drivers — extremist insurgencies, farmer-herder conflict and organized banditry — and said the 25 girls recently kidnapped in Kebbi state were all Muslim.

“Violence affects everyone,” she said. “False narratives erase the real drivers of violence and make it harder to find solutions.”

She condemned President Trump’s remarks about “going into Nigeria guns blazing,” calling such rhetoric reckless and illegal and said unilateral U.S. military action would be “counterproductive.”

Jacobs claimed the Trump administration cut peace-building and conflict-prevention tools that once helped reduce violence, programs, she said, “that proactively prevented and directly addressed the violence this administration is now concerned about.”

Women and children held captive by Islamic extremists and rescued by the Nigerian army arrive in Maiduguri, Nigeria, May 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jossy Olatunji)

Rep. John James, R-Mich., described Nigeria’s crisis in stark terms. 

“This is one of the gravest religious freedom crises in the world,” he said. “The deadliest place on earth to be a Christian.”

He cited estimates that nearly 17,000 Christians have been killed since 2019, calling the murders “a sustained pattern of religiously motivated violence, often ignored or even enabled by the Nigerian government.”

Appearing on video from Benue state, Bishop Wilfred Anagbe detailed church burnings, mass displacement and priests targeted for abduction.

“Nigeria remains the deadliest place on earth to be a Christian,” Anagbe said. “More believers are killed there annually than in the rest of the world combined.”

He thanked the administration for putting Nigeria as a  Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for religious freedom violations but urged that it be backed with sanctions and greater humanitarian support for displaced civilians.

Two senior state department officials, Jonathan Pratt and Jacob McGee, defended the administration’s approach while acknowledging the horror of the attacks.

Pratt called the situation “a very serious security problem,” saying the U.S. seeks to “raise the protection of Christians to the top of the Nigerian government’s priorities.”

McGee added, “The levels of violence and atrocities committed against Christians are appalling. … Nigerians are being attacked and killed because of their faith.”

He pointed to blasphemy laws in 12 northern states that can carry the death penalty, calling them “unacceptable in a free and democratic society.”

Onlookers gather around a car destroyed in a blast next to St. Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla, Nigeria, Dec. 25, 2011, after an explosion ripped through a Catholic Church during Christmas Mass near Nigeria’s capital. (Associated Press )

Both officials said the U.S. is developing a plan to “incentivize and compel” the Nigerian government to protect religious communities.

In one exchange between Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., and an expert on Nigeria, he asked bluntly, “Ma’am, are we frenemies? Are we — what are we?”

Oge Onubogu, director of the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, replied, “We’re friends.”

She added that U.S.–Nigeria engagement must be “from a place of honesty” and that Nigerians “acknowledge something must be done quickly about the levels of insecurity.”

Onubogu warned, however, that a “narrow narrative that reduces Nigeria’s security situation to a single story” could deepen divisions.

Stutzman pressed her further, noting, “If Nigeria’s government cannot stop the violence, they should be willing to ask the international community for help.”

People gather July 2, 2014, where a car bomb exploded at the central market in Maiduguri, Nigeria, the birthplace of terror group Boko Haram.  (AP Photo/Jossy Ola)

As the hearing came to a close, Smith warned, “The Nigerian government has a constitutional obligation to protect its citizens. If it cannot stop the slaughter, then America — and the world — must not look away.”