Fifteen members of the British Parliament have condemned the growing persecution of Christians in Nigeria.
The parliamentarians, who spoke in support of a petition by Catholic Charity, asked the Nigerian government and lawmakers to take action in bringing to justice terrorists and other criminals attacking and killing Christians in the Middle Belt and North East regions of the West African country.
The MPs are Patrick Grady, Brendan O’ Hara, Cat Smith, Jim Shannon, Tommy Sheppard, Marie Rimmer, Julian Lewis, David Linden, Chris Green and Sammy Wilson.
The members of the House of Lords in support of the petition are Lord Singh of Wimbledon, Lord Selkirk of Douglas, Lord Hylton, Bishop Cocksworth of Coventry and Lord Alton of Liverpool.
The Catholic group, Aid to Church in Need (ACN), is requesting persons to sign its petition calling for action to bring to justice those responsible for terrorist violence against Christians in Nigeria.
“Islamic groups are making life hell on earth for so many Christians and other communities across parts of Nigeria, overshadowed by horrific violence.
“What we see is a calculated effort to drive the Christian community away. Surely, there is more that the Nigerian government can do to stop it.
“It is why Baroness Cox and I have asked the International Criminal Court to assess whether the atrocities which have been committed constitute a genocide,” Lord Alton said in an interview with the Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
He called on the UK Government to pressure the Nigerian government “to do more to bring the perpetrators to justice.”
Alton said they strongly support the #RedWednesday petition.
In July, five American senators had asked that country’s government to redesignate Nigeria as Country of Particular Concern (CPC) due to the declining state of religious freedom in the country. They are Republican senators.
Over 32,000 people recently petitioned the United States Government requesting it to return Nigeria to the list of countries with religious freedom violators.
The Biden administration, in November 2021, removed Nigeria from the list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC). The removal came a day before the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, who was on tour of some African countries, arrived in Nigeria.
A group, International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), recently said over 4,000 Christians were killed in Nigeria in the first 10 months of 2022.
Christian watchdog, Open Doors, in its report presented earlier in the year, said at least 5,898 Christians were killed, 5,110 churches attacked or closed, 6,175 Christians arrested without trial and 3,829 Christians kidnapped between October 1, 2020 and September 30, 2021 in 50 countries investigated.
