Divine Sam

The administration of President Bola Tinubu is expected to face fresh scrutiny in the United States as members of the US House of Representatives prepare to examine allegations of widespread killings of Christians in Nigeria, particularly in the Middle Belt.

The congressional hearing, scheduled for November 12, 2026, will take place at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC. It will also be streamed live on YouTube for Nigerians and other interested viewers.

The session will be chaired by Congressman Chris Smith, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, whose office announced the hearing on Monday.

Titled “One Year Later: Assessing Nigeria’s Efforts to Protect Christians and Secure the Middle Belt”, the hearing will assess the Nigerian government’s response to attacks against Christians, efforts to restore security in the Middle Belt and measures taken to bring perpetrators of religiously motivated violence to justice.

The lawmakers are expected to examine the government’s performance over the past year, including its response to attacks blamed on Boko Haram and armed groups accused of targeting Christian communities.

Five witnesses have been listed to address the hearing in two sessions.

The first session will feature Frank Garcia, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, and Riley Barnes, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labour.

The second session will hear from Nina Shea of the Hudson Institute, Ryan Brown, Chief Executive Officer of Open Doors US, and Oge Onubogu of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

Beyond assessing Nigeria’s security response, the lawmakers are expected to consider possible measures the US could take to pressure the Tinubu administration into doing more to protect Christians and moderate Muslim communities from attacks.

The hearing comes nearly one year after US President Donald Trump returned Nigeria to the list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) over religious freedom violations.

Trump had initially designated Nigeria as a CPC country in 2020 during his first administration. However, the country was removed from the list under former President Joe Biden.

On October 31, 2025, Trump reinstated the designation, arguing that Christianity was facing an existential threat in Nigeria and accusing radical Islamist groups of killing thousands of Christians.

He also threatened to withdraw American assistance to Nigeria and suggested the possibility of military intervention if the killings continued.

“If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the USA will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now-disgraced country, guns-a-blazing, to completely wipe out the Islamic terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities,” Trump had said.

Congressman Riley Moore has also continued to push for stronger action against Nigeria over the reported attacks.

In a statement marking one year since the country’s return to the CPC list, Moore maintained that Christians in Nigeria were still experiencing what he described as unspeakable violence.