Religious Intolerance: FG Reacts To Placement On Watch List … Says Farmers Herders’ Clashes, Boko Haram Not Religious

The Federal Government has rejected the United States (US) designation of Nigeria as a country that engages in or tolerates severe violations of religious freedom.
This follows the US Department of State listing, last Friday, of Nigeria as one of the ‘Countries of Particular Concern’ over its tolerance for “violations of religious freedom.”
The President Mohammadu Buhari-led government said the malicious tag stems from an orchestrated narrative that has long been discredited
In a statement issued in Abuja yesterday, and made available to The Tide’s source, through the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Minister said “the good people of Nigeria enjoy unfettered freedom to practice their religion, and blamed failed politicians and disgruntled elements – some of them supposedly-respected leaders – for latching on to religion as their trump card, especially in the run up to the last general elections, to oust the Buhari Administration”.
According to the Minister, “it is unfortunate that the US fell for the antics of the discontented and the unpatriotic few, who will not hesitate to hang Nigeria out to dry on the altar of their inordinate ambition and their sheer animosity towards the Administration”.
The Minister continued that the Nigerian government is acutely aware of how the political opposition in particular, had spared no resources in deriving political capital from the various security challenges in the country
“The deliberate effort to give religious coloration to the farmers-herders clashes and the Boko Haram insurgency, in particular, has undoubtedly helped to mislead the US into concluding that the government is doing little or nothing to guarantee religious freedom in the country.
“But, as we have always said, the farmers-herders clashes have nothing to do with religion but everything to do with environmental and socio-economic realities.
“The religious tag given to the clashes has no basis, but is very convenient for those who will very easily give the dog a bad name just to hang it.
“On its part, the Boko Haram terrorists are extreme fanatics who do not subscribe to the tenets of any religion, in spite of their pretence to Islamic adherence.”
Mohammed said the good news is that the government has succeeded in curbing the farmers-herders clashes through the implementation of proactive and multi-dimensional strategy, which is yielding remarkable results, just as it has largely defeated the Boko Haram insurgency.
On the El-Zakzaky issue, which was referred to in the report by the US government, he described it as purely a criminal matter, which is being handled by a court of competent jurisdiction.
The Minister said while the government welcomes constructive criticism from any quarter, it rejects any attempt to sow the seeds of mistrust among the various religious groups in the country.
It will be recalled that the US last Friday placed Nigeria and six other countries on the special watch list of countries that had engaged in, or tolerated the severe violation of religious freedom.
Other countries listed include Comoros, Russia, Uzbekistan, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Sudan.
US Secretary of State, Michael Pompeo, announced this in a statement in Washington saying the US State Department had also designated various terrorist groups such as the al-Nusra Front, al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula, al-Shabab, Boko Haram, the Houthis, ISIS, ISIS-Khorasan, and the Taliban as ‘Entities of Particular Concern.’
Pompeo’s announcement followed the release of the 2018 report of the United States Commission for International Religious Freedom which recommended Nigeria’s designation as a country of particular concern.
It noted that federal and state governments continued to tolerate discrimination on the basis of religion or belief, “and suppressed the freedom to manifest religion or belief.”
The report cited the continued detention of the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, his wife, Zeenat and their followers by the Department of State Services and the police.
It said, “Religious freedom conditions in Nigeria trended negatively in 2018. The Nigerian government at the national and state levels continued to tolerate violence and discrimination on the basis of religion or belief, and suppressed the freedom to manifest religion or belief.
“The Federal Government continued to detain the leader of the IMN, Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, along with his wife and hundreds of other members, and state governments continued to ban the group’s activities.”