Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act: On U.S. Senator Cruz’s Targeting Of Nigerian Officials

By Madu Onuorah

The Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act of 2025 introduced by U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is designed to protect Christians and other religious minorities from widespread persecution in Nigeria and targeting of individuals, groups or institutions supporting such persecution.

The bill has far-reaching implications both for Nigerian officials and leaders at all levels as it targets sanctions on Nigerian federal authorities and officials, State Governors, Judges, law enforcement officials and certain others who have promoted, enacted, or maintained Nigerian blasphemy laws, and/or tolerated religiously motivated violence by non-state actors including foreign terrorists.

What is most striking is that the Cruz Act also levies sanctions for actions committed retroactively within 10 years prior to the act’s passage.

“Nigerian Christians are being targeted and executed for their faith by Islamist terrorist groups and are being forced to submit to sharia law and blasphemy laws across Nigeria,” Sen. Cruz stated. “It is long past time to impose real costs on the Nigerian officials who facilitate these activities, and my Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act uses new and existing tools to do exactly that. I urge my colleagues to advance this critical legislation expeditiously.” 

On September 9, 2025, the U.S. Senate referred the 2025 bill to the Foreign Relations Committee after two readings.

The legislation seeks to hold accountable Nigerian government officials who enable Islamist jihadist violence or enforce harsh blasphemy laws, which have repeatedly led to the death and imprisonment of innocent citizens.  

According to Persecution.org, “the legislation signals growing international frustration with Nigeria’s failure to protect religious minorities. By holding state actors personally accountable, the bill aims to discourage complicity in jihadist violence and judicial abuses. If passed, it could pave the way for broader international action, including by the European Union and the United Nations.” 

Specifically, the Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act of 2025 would impose targeted sanctions — including travel bans and asset freezes — on Nigerian officials who facilitate religious violence or enforce repressive blasphemy laws.

It also requires the U.S. Secretary of State to redesignate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act, recognizing the gravity of the violations.

It also mandates that Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa remain designated as Entities of Particular Concern, ensuring that counterterrorism pressure does not ease. 

According to Persecution.org: “Religious persecution in Nigeria has reached alarming levels. Since 2009, extremist groups and armed militias have killed more than 52,000 Christians across the country. More than 20,000 churches, seminaries, and Christian-based institutions have been destroyed, leaving entire communities without places of worship, education, or refuge. Villages in Plateau, Kaduna, Benue, and Borno states continue to suffer frequent attacks, with survivors often forced to flee their ancestral lands. 

“On June 13, more than 200 Christians were killed in a single night of carnage by Fulani jihadists in north-central Nigeria. Boko Haram, the group infamous for abducting more than 270 mostly Christian schoolgirls from Chibok in 2014, remains active in the northeast, staging ambushes and mass kidnappings. ISIS-West Africa, a breakaway faction of Boko Haram, has strengthened its presence around Lake Chad, further destabilizing the region. 

“Adding to the violence, 12 Nigerian States enforce Sharia law, which includes blasphemy provisions. Nigeria’s federal government also criminalizes blasphemy nationwide, a legal system that empowers mob justice and allows extremists to act with impunity. These laws disproportionately affect Christians and moderate Muslims who speak against radical teachings. 

“The blasphemy framework has emboldened vigilante groups and mobs that inflict instant punishment without trial. In recent years, cases have multiplied. According to data compiled by human rights monitors, more than 150 Nigerians were killed between 2015 and 2023 in mob actions triggered by blasphemy accusations. Many of these incidents occurred in the northern states of Kano, Sokoto, Bauchi, and Zamfara, where religious tensions are especially high. 

“Other notable examples include the following: 

“Deborah Samuel Yakubu (2022) — A 200-level Christian student at Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto, Deborah was lynched by classmates who accused her of insulting Prophet Muhammad in a WhatsApp group. Her brutal murder, captured on video, drew global condemnation, yet no one has been prosecuted. 

“Eunice Olawale (2016) — A Christian street preacher in Abuja, Eunice was attacked and killed at dawn while evangelizing in Kubwa. Her murderers accused her of “blasphemous preaching.” 

“Gideon Akaluka (1994) — A Christian man in Kano accused of desecrating the Quran. He was arrested, but a mob stormed the prison, beheaded him, and paraded his head through the city. 

“Mubarak Bala (Ongoing) — The president of the Humanist Association of Nigeria, Bala, was sentenced in 2022 to 24 years in prison on blasphemy charges after expressing atheist views online. His case highlights how blasphemy laws threaten not only Christians but also Muslims and non-believers who challenge religious orthodoxy. 

“The frequency of such cases is on the rise. In 2023 alone, at least 31 people were arrested on blasphemy charges in Kano, Sokoto, and Bauchi states, according to civil society reports. Most remain in prolonged detention without a fair trial. In the same year, mob violence claimed multiple victims, including a young man in Bauchi accused of insulting Islam during an argument. His body was burned in public while police stood by. 

“For Nigeria’s embattled Christian communities, who live daily under the shadow of both extremist violence and blasphemy accusations, the bill represents more than a policy shift. It offers the possibility of justice, accountability, and recognition of their suffering on the global stage — a long-overdue acknowledgment that their plight can no longer be ignored.” 

On Friday October 3, following the sacking of Kirawa border community by Boko Haram terrorists, Senator Cruz wrote on X: “Officials in Nigeria are ignoring and even facilitating the mass murder of Christians by Islamist jihadists.

“It’s time to hold those responsible accountable. My Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act would target these officials with powerful sanctions and other tools.”

Unfortunately, Nigerian officials are responding to the threat from Senator Cruz and his supporters with the usual dismissive tact and name-calling. Some surrogate attackers and supporters of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu even went to the extent of linking Senator Cruz’s bill to the U.S. visit by Labour Party Presidential candidate, Peter Obi.

Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, in a post on X, dismissed the lawmaker’s claims, saying: “Senator, stop these malicious, contrived lies against my country. We do not have a religious war in my country. The degraded Boko Haram terrorists operating on the fringes of Nigeria’s North-East target everyone.

“They attack farmers, our soldiers. The bandits in the North-West kill worshippers in their mosques. Christians are not targeted. We have religious harmony in our country. Stop these malicious lies.”

Former aide to late President Muhammadu Buhari, @BashirAhmaad, said: “This propaganda campaign against Nigeria is very dangerously aggressive. We will continue to defend our country and uphold its honor and sovereignty.”

With such knees-jerk reactions and not contacts at the highest levels of government, it is clear that this bill will sail through and be a slam on Nigeria’s already battered image. It is instructive that during the September meeting of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, Nigeria’s highest contact with the U.S was Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar meeting with Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau. The Nigerian delegation was led by Vice President Kashim Shettima.

The U.S. delegation was led by President Donald Trump and had the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio also in attendance.