Adesina who was a guest on Sunday Politics, a political programme which aired on Channels Television, said nobody has appointed the US to be the policeman of the world. The Nigeria presidential spokesman advised the Donald Trump’s administration to focus on burning issues affecting the United States.
“The United States itself has a lot to chew solving its own problems not to talk of pock nosing into another country. Nobody has appointed them the policeman of the world. Let them face their own issue,” he said.
Speaking further, Adesina called on the US and other foreign powers to respect the internal issues of Nigeria, stressing that the Federal Government doing business with them does not mean the nation’s sovereignty should not appreciated.
According to him, the US Secretary of States, Mike Pompeo does not have a clear understanding of things happening here in the Nigeria. When asked if the accusation of the violation of religious freedom is not a reality, the presidential spokesman replied saying: “It is a discredited narrative as the Minister of Information (Lai Mohammed) has said.”
Adesina’s comment come hours after Mohammed faulted the report on religious freedom, accusing the US government of being misled by disgruntled elements. It will be recalled recently that The US in its Special Watch List placed Nigeria amongst countries that its government had engaged in or tolerated the severe violation of religious freedom.
The West African country may be designated Country of Particular Concern (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 if religious persecutions continue, the State Department said. Although the State Department said in a statement that Nigeria is on the SWL list, a report published by the United States Commission for International Religious Freedom showed the country is already classified as a CPC.
USCIRF said “continued systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of freedom of religion or belief” in Nigeria should have earned the country a place on the official CPC list since 2009. The US accused the Nigerian government of tolerating violence and discrimination based on religion or belief, and suppression of the freedom to manifest religion or belief.
In another development The Christian Association of Nigeria has commended the move by the United States in placing Nigeria on ‘Special Watchlist’ of countries violating religious freedom. CAN in a statement by Special Assistant, Media and Communications, to the President of the organisation, Pastor Adebayo Oladeji, said it welcomes the move despite the fact that it was not contacted before the decision was taken. The organisation added that there were enough evidence to prove that the subtle Islamisation agenda and nepotism were real.
CAN said “We are not happy that our country is being listed among the nations where religious intolerance is one of their hallmarks but it gladdens our hearts that at least the global community is not unaware of the fact that Nigerian Christians are becoming endangered species in their land.”
In another report, the Christian charity Open Doors announced that Nigeria is the most dangerous place to be a Christian, the Pew Research Center said, Nigeria, with more than 80 million Christians, has the largest Christian population on the African continent, most of whom reside in the south and south-eastern regions of the country. Yet the report says that “there were more recorded killings of Christians due to their faith in northern Nigeria in 2015 than in the rest of the world put together”. The reasons for these deaths, according to the charity, is “religious cleansing to eradicate Christianity”.
Published by:
Chibuike John Nebeokike
For: Radio Biafra Media
