The United State has been faulted by the Federal Government of Nigeria for listing the most populous black race on religious freedom blacklist among other countries believed to have religious violations.
It will be recalled that Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State on Monday labelled Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” for religious freedom.
He made this known in a tweet noting that the international nation will get involved if there is any freedom of religion attack in any of the countries listed.
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“These annual designations show that when religious freedom is attacked, we will act,” Pompeo tweeted.
On the contrary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture in another development faulted the allegations by the Americans.
He said that the allegation by the United States on religious freedom violations is faulty.
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According to the statement issued by the Special Assistant To The President (Media) Office of the Minister of Information and Culture, Segun Adeyemi, on Tuesday, the minister is maintaining his stand that the allegation by the United State is false.
In the statement, Mohammed described the allegation as “a case of an honest disagreement between the two nations on the causes of violence in Nigeria”.
”Nigeria does not engage in religious freedom violation, neither does it have a policy of religious persecution. Victims of insecurity and terrorism in the country are adherents of Christianity, Islam and other religions,” the Minister added.
“Nigeria jealously protects religious freedom as enshrined in the country’s constitution and takes seriously any infringements in this regard”, he said.
Nigeria is not the only country on the blacklist and others include Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, as well as China, Myanmar, North Korea, Iran, Eritrea, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
