By Duggan Flanakin
The recent re-designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) by United States authorities, based on allegations of widespread Christian persecution, has ignited debates while overlooking the nuanced reality behind the nation’s security issues. While such claims evoke strong emotions and political implications from afar, they fail to reflect historical facts or lived experiences within Nigeria.
Nigeria faces undeniable security challenges rooted in governance gaps, poverty, and historical neglect—not a deliberate state campaign against any specific religion. The country’s story is far more complex than simple narratives of religious conflict suggest. As an economic anchor of West Africa with immense ethnic, religious, regional, and cultural diversity, its conflicts have historically arisen from issues like competition over land and resources or the struggle for political power.
Religion often serves as a convenient identity marker in disputes that are fundamentally social or political, rather than theological. This tendency was evident long before modern extremist movements emerged. The Maitatsine uprisings of the 1980s represented Nigeria’s first significant encounter with religious extremism, but even then, it involved complex dynamics extending beyond attacks solely on Christians.
Throughout various administrations – from Shehu Shagari to General Ibrahim Babangida to President Goodluck Jonathan – governments have consistently handled potential sectarian flashpoints through commissions of inquiry and peace initiatives. Jonathan specifically addressed crises that were rooted in land disputes between indigenes and settlers, not religion itself.
The rise of Boko Haram introduced tragic complexity as it attacked both Christian and Muslim targets during its insurgency period. The conflicts demonstrated how security forces under various leaderships (including Muhammadu Buhari’s military rule) have responded to violence across the country while maintaining constitutional guarantees of religious freedom for all citizens, regardless of faith.
Today, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu continues this tradition, governing through a religiously diverse cabinet that reflects Nigeria’s pluralistic society. His administration has maintained policies favoring national cohesion over simplistic identity politics in its approach to security challenges.
To understand present-day tensions requires acknowledging their complex roots: historical grievances dating back decades, ecological pressures like desertification impacting land use patterns, and the politicization of religious differences by various actors seeking leverage for other agendas. Characterizing Nigeria’s long journey through struggle, reform, and resilience as merely a Christian persecution narrative ignores both its painful past and ongoing efforts to build peace across all communities.
Nigeria deserves recognition not just for facing challenges, but for confronting them with courage while maintaining the constitutional principle of religious freedom for everyone.
