The Eagle Online has put together the steps that led to President Donald Trump of the United States of America to redesignate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC).
The development followed months of lobbying from members of the US Congress and advocacy groups who allege that Christians in Nigeria face targeted attacks from extremist groups and that the government has not done enough to stop them.
This marks the second time Nigeria has received the CPC label, with the first coming in December 2020 during Trump’s previous term.
However, in 2021, the Joe Biden administration delisted Nigeria, arguing that progress had been made and that ongoing engagement was a more effective approach.
The Country of Particular Concern status is not just a label , it’s an official classification under the US International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998.
It applies to nations found to be engaging in or tolerating “systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom”.
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These violations can include: Torture or inhuman treatment based on religion, prolonged detention without charge for religious reasons, enforced disappearances of individuals due to faith and other severe denials of the rights to life, liberty, or security because of one’s religion or belief.
When a country is designated as a CPC, the US Government is required to consider a range of policy responses aimed at ending the identified violations.
These responses can start with diplomatic measures — such as direct engagement, public condemnation, or the withdrawal of certain forms of assistance.
If these steps fail to produce results, economic sanctions can follow.
These may include: Restricting or cutting development and security aid, blocking certain types of military or trade assistance, opposing loans or financial support from international institutions and limiting export licenses for sensitive goods
Highlighting factors leading to the call for Nigeria to be designated as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) by the US Government, a journalist and human rights activist, Charles Ogbu recalled that Bishop Wilfred Chikpa Anagbe of the Catholic Diocese of Makurdi, on February 14, 2024 appeared before the US House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, testifying about the genocidal persecution of Christians in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, particularly Benue State.
He was reportedly invited again on March 12, 2025 during which the good Bishop, accompanied by Reverend Father Remigius Ihyula, detailed systematic massacres by ethnic Fulani jihadists against Christian farming communities, including kidnappings, church burnings, and land seizures.
According to the clergy, the number of Christians documented to have been killed by the Fulani Jihadists was over 1,000 within months with over 160 churches destroyed in the past decade and large swaths of land belonging to the Christian victims seized and currently occupied by the jihadists with no commensurate action from the government.
Bishop Anagbe told the US parliamentarians that the Nigerian government is engaging in a “conspiracy of silence” aimed at enabling an “Islamic agenda” to Islamise the region.
It was learnt that Bishop Anagbe and Father Ihyula, after testifying, reportedly received multiple death threats allegedly from Nigerian government sources and Islamist groups.
In April 2025, foreign embassies, including the US, warned of potential arrest upon his return to Nigeria. The Nigerian Foreign Ministry denied involvement but promised investigations.
Between May 24 and 26, 2025, Ogbu alleged that Fulani Jihadists attacked Bishop Anagbe’s home village – Aondona – killing not less than 42 people (some sources placed the casualty figure at over 70) and displacing hundreds. This was described by many as reprisal for his testimony at the US Congress
Between June 1 and 13, 2025, he recounted that further coordinated attacks by ethnic Fulani Jihadists in Gwer West and Apa counties, including Yelwata (near Makurdi), left over 300 men, women, and children butchered with most of the victims burnt alive.
Ogbu said: “This was even as the communities alerted the security agencies of the impending attacks weeks before it happened. Many of you would remember that the Bola Tinubu govt and her agents actually tried to play down the Yelwata massacre until activist Verydarkblackman went to the venue to bring the gory images of the victims to social media.
“During the last Lent/Holy Week, over 92 Christians were massacred in the same Benue. Please note that the govt headed by a muslim president and a muslim vice president has not prosecuted any known Fulani jihadist for any of these genocidal attacks.
“Most shocking is the fact that after similar attacks in Jos which left over 271 Christians dead, the leader of the Fulani jihadists called a Press Conference where he was shown in a video shared by Tvcnewsng, a television station owned by the president, giving conditions that must be met before they stop killing innocent people.
“One of the conditions he gave was the removal of a senior military commander in charge of keeping peace in Plateau. As I type, that particular commander is no longer in his position. Your govt yielded to the demand of the jihadist.
“I challenge anyone to fact-check everything I have written here.
“THERE IS CHRISTIAN GENOCIDE GOING ON IN NIGERIA and the govt is complicit. The whataboutism of some Muslims being affected does not vitiate this fact because even those muslim victims were killed by fellow Muslims and there is no record of a predominantly Muslim community being targeted the way it has been happening in Southern Kaduna, Benue and other parts of the Middle Belt.”
Meanwhile, the redesignation of Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) by the US government, has been welcomed in some quarters.
In a video sighted by The Eagle Online on Monday, a US-based Nigerian who identified himself simply as Frank, applauded the decision, describing the move as a major step toward addressing longstanding security and human rights challenges in the country.
According to Frank, the decision marks a collapse from a position of principled assertion to one of outright denial, diplomatic ineptitude, and a fundamental failure of the Nigerian security state. He further explained that the CPC sanction is not merely a diplomatic rebuke but a stark indictment of a political elite fatally separated from the existential security crisis plaguing its citizenry.
His words: “Oh my god, so I’m very excited, very, very excited that President Trump has finally designated Nigeria as a country of particular concern. You see, on Tuesday this week, Tuesday, October 28, 2025, around 11 a.m. Oklahoma time, that’s Central Standard Time, United States, I got a call from Jesse Sutherland, the policy advisor to the senior senator from Oklahoma, Senator James Lankford. That’s one of the signatories to Senator Ted Cruz’s bill.
“The message was just simple and direct. Frank, can you write a reminder to the letter sent to this office to be forwarded to the Department of State? So the Department of State, that is the office of the Secretary of the United States, Marco Rubio, was asking for a reminder because they don’t want to act so motto.
“They want to act as a response to a call made by Nigerians. So I wrote that letter immediately and sent to the office of Senator James Lankford. That was on Tuesday, October 28, 2025.
“And today, which is Friday, October 31st, 2025, by 1229 p.m. Jesse Sutherland, the policy advisor to Senator Lankford called me and his message was just direct. Hold on, the senator wants to speak with you. And Senator Lankford was like, Frank, the President has just designated Nigeria as a country of particular concern.
“So I want to thank all those Nigerians who have been advocating for this, starting with my bishop, the bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Makauri, Bishop Anagbe, and all the rebel fighters of their origin in the United States here, and very particularly to the guys at Equipping the Persecuted, very great man, Jetsol, who has been there for Nigerian Christians, the guys at Truth Nigeria, Doug Barton, who himself was a former staff of the State Department, and Mike Arnold, and of course all the senators and the House of Rep members.
“Trump has officially designated Nigeria as a country of particular concern, which was our When Yelwata happened on June 13 and 14, I told myself that Yelwata would be the catalyst for a lot of things to happen to shake the very foundation of Nigeria.
“In the war against terrorism, especially Fulani terrorism, and the genocide against Christians in Nigeria, Yelwata served as a catalyst….
“But very importantly, we so much desire this country of particular concern designation because it will change a lot of things. First of all, a lot of people were asking the implications. I’ve said it in several of my videos.
“There’ll be a trade embargo in Nigeria, there’ll be arms, they’re not doing anything with the arms, they’re giving arms to soldiers and soldiers are just shooting in the sky anytime this Fulani comes to kill people….
“Okay, if you go through Trump’s statement, very well, he said, I’m hereby designating Nigeria as a country of particular concern. And that is the least of it.
“The least is the designation. The most important thing is what comes on after this designation. These guys have the list of all those guys who are doing this.
“They’ll freeze their accounts. They’ll place a travel ban on them. They’ll freeze their assets all over the world.
“They’ll go after them. And when it is becoming too hot, they’ll intervene directly themselves the way they release some stuff to Iran. So the way the Air Force Base is just right here where the two B-2 Spirit bombers are.
“It’s just right here. And then they will go after their transaction, their financial transaction, because most of those guys, they transact with the American dollars, and they transact using Visa card and MasterCard. And so it goes to American financial institutions.
“They have the names of these people. These people are in the federal government of Nigeria, the sponsors of this Fulani Jihad, the genocide in Nigeria. They’re in the state government as governors.
“They are among the traditional institutions, from the top echelon of the Islamic traditional institutions in Nigeria to the Emirates, all the emirs. All these chiefs around in the state are also involved.
“So the United States, so every patriotic Nigeria, those of us who call for this designation are the most patriotic Nigeria, because we want a solution.
“The solution was at hand and the government could not use it for political correctness, still protecting the sponsors of these killings. So right now with this designation, it is a notice to the entire world that genocide of Christians is happening in Nigeria. And other countries in the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Canada will also act.
“So we are very happy with this designation. And right now, after this designation, we are going to continue following this matter to make sure that the other repercussions are put in place. Sanction of these guys, blocking their accounts everywhere, freezing their assets, naming them, and possibly arresting them in some other countries.
“So we will not relent. We want to thank everybody involved in this. We want to thank all the priests, the pastors, the religious leaders, the political leaders who were able to be brave enough to call for this.
“And I’ll just tell you that, look, the entirety of this designation did not come so much by President Trump or Ted Cruz just doing it on their own. It came because of our Christ. And the Christ continues until when the sponsors of this terrorism and genocide are all arrested and put in prison.
“And then our people are made to return back to their ancestral land and claim their homes and live in peace and worship in peace. That is the least of what we’re saying. So when President Trump is saying this is the least, the designation is just the least.
“There are a lot of things coming. The sponsors should brave up. They should brace us. There are a lot of things coming. This is just the least according to President Trump. Some of us know the least.
“And finally, you know, these people will be talking in Nigeria. They thought they are deceiving the United States, but they are deceiving themselves. You find these people say, no, Nigeria, there is nothing like Christian genocide going on.
“There is peace, there is this, there is that. Look, the United States is the compendium of every intel happening in Nigeria. Everything happened up to your house.
“Those guys have the information. For goodness sake, you are using their technology. You are using the phone, you are using the SIM card that has the chips.
“You are using electronic passports, e-passports, satellite imageries. You think you, those of you, the sponsors, you think you make secret calls by making encrypted calls through WhatsApp. They own the WhatsApp.
“They own the messenger. If you want to use even satellite phones, they own it. They own this technology.
“They know all these things. So you begin to deceive yourself that, oh no, this is not happening. They know all these things.
“I’ve sat down with many of them. I’ve had them inform me about Nigeria to the extent that I never knew Nigeria existed that way. So once again, I want to thank President Trump very well.
“I want to thank everybody involved in this. Bishop Anagbe of Makudi Diocese, Mike Arnold, Doug Barton, Emmanuel Ogebe, my guy Steve Enada in Atlanta, the Igbo veterans in the Nigerian, in the American service. They are known as AVID, you know, Association of Veterans of Igbo in Diaspora, you know.
“And many of these other guys, kudos to all of us. And the fight has just started.”
