The letter, an initiative led by ADF International, cited statistics from human rights observers indicating an increasingly hostile environment for Nigerian Christians.
“After the still unexplained removal of Nigeria’s CPC designation in November 2021, both the general level of violence and specific targeting of Christians increased. Open Doors found more Christians killed in Nigeria in 2021 — 4,650 — than in all other countries in the world combined,” read the letter.
“The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law views the trend for 2022 as on-track to surpass that number, with no fewer than 2,543 Christians killed in jihadist-related violence in the first half of 2022,” the letter continued.
The June 5 Pentecost Sunday terrorist attack on St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, which killed at least 40 people, brought the crisis to the world’s attention.
In their letter, the signatories noted that the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom viewed the removal of the CPC designation in 2021 as “appalling.”
Nigerian religious and civic leaders, including Bishop Jude Arogundade, who oversees the Ondo diocese, where St. Francis Xavier Church was attacked, have publicly criticized the removal of the CPC designation and called for a special envoy to lead an investigation of violations of religious freedom in Nigeria, the letter noted.