The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has kicked against the United States decision to place Nigeria on a watch list of nations that engage or tolerate religious persecution.
Naija News recalls that a statement on Friday by the US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo revealed that Nigeria was added to the list alongside Cuba, Nicaragua and Sudan.
Other countries that have been on the list under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 include Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. 
The US Department of State also renewed the placement of Comoros, Russia and Uzbekistan on the Special Watch List (SWL).
The administration of Donald Trump also designated Boko Haram as an Entity of Particular Concern alongside al-Nusra Front, al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula, al-Qa’ida, al-Shabab, the Houthis, ISIS, ISIS-Khorasan and the Taliban.
Reacting in a statement on Sunday by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, the Buhari government accused 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.
Lai Mohammed lamented 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 deliberate effort to give religious colouration 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 stated that while the Buhari government welcomes constructive criticism from any quarter, it rejects any attempt to sow the seeds of mistrust among the various religious groups in Nigeria.
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