[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 103 (Wednesday, July 11, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1234]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      ATTACKS ON CHRISTIANS IN NIGERIA: UNPROVOKED, UNCONSCIONABLE

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 11, 2012

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, earlier this week I held a 
hearing to examine U.S. policy and policy options for managing 
relations with Nigeria in light of concerns on terrorism and social and 
political unrest.
  The stability and commitment to justice and the rule of law of the 
Nigerian government is critical to regional, continental and global 
economic interests. Nigeria is hugely important on many fronts. 
Nigeria, Africa's largest producer of oil and its largest democracy, is 
one of the U.S. government's key strategic partners on the continent. 
It is Africa's most populous country, with more than 155 million 
people, roughly half Muslim and half Christian, and its second-largest 
economy. Nigeria supplies nearly three times the volume of imports to 
the United States as Angola, the second leading U.S. import supplier. 
The United States receives nearly 20% of our petroleum exports from 
Nigeria.
  Consequently, Nigeria's stability is of critical interest for the 
U.S. economy and American policy interests in Africa.
  Attacks by the Nigerian Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram on 
Christians, including attacks launched this past weekend, are 
unprovoked and unconscionable. People of all faiths--and all people of 
goodwill--must demand immediate action against this terrorist 
organization.
  According to Catholic News Agency/EWTN News:
  ``Archbishop Ignatius A. Kaigama is concerned over the seemingly 
endless violence against Christians that claimed at least 58 lives this 
past weekend and hundreds of others in recent weeks. It is `our prayer 
that something definitive will be done to stop the situation that is 
inhuman,' the Archbishop of Jos, Nigeria and Nigerian Bishops' 
Conference president said. In a July 9 interview with Vatican Radio, 
Archbishop Kaigama said that the violence against Christian villages 
around Jos `doesn't seem to stop.' Although he was recently awarded the 
Institute for International Research's annual peace building award, the 
archbishop said he and his priests are discouraged by the silence of 
foreign governments surrounding the violence in Nigeria. A peaceful 
resolution `cannot be left to just one country,' the archbishop said, 
urging a, `collective effort.' ''
  Boko Haram reportedly is in league with al-Qaeda in the Mahgreb and 
is involved at some level with Tuareg rebels in northern Mali, 
Islamists in Somalia and possibly even the Taliban in Afghanistan.
  In addition to its well-publicized attacks on Christians in Nigeria, 
Boko Haram has been involved in murdering those they consider moderate 
Muslims or Muslims collaborating with the central government or the 
West, including several Muslim clerics, the leader of the All Nigeria 
People's Party and the brother of the Shehu of Borno, a northern Muslim 
religious leader. There are reports that some northern Nigerian leaders 
may be supporting Boko Haram in some way as leverage against a 
government they oppose.
  U.S. policy toward Nigeria also must take into account ethnic, 
religious and political challenges the Nigerian government faces 
outside of the Boko Haram dynamic. Furthermore, development deficits in 
Nigeria have had unequal impacts on various minority ethnic groups, 
such as in Nigeria's Delta region. This lack of attention to equitable 
development in Nigeria has led to violent uprisings that do not appear 
to be resolved in any part of the country, certainly not in the Niger 
Delta.
  In Nigeria, President Goodluck Jonathan is considered to be the 
personification of his name: a fortunate politician who has been in the 
right place at the right time to enable him to enjoy a meteoric rise in 
politics with no perceived political base or political distinction in 
his relatively brief career. He was an obscure government employee 
before he entered politics in 1998, and a year later, he was elected 
Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State. Except for his success in 
negotiations with his fellow Ijaws in the troubled delta region, he 
served without any special distinction until he became the Governor of 
Bayelsa State, after his predecessor was impeached on corruption 
charges in 2005.
  Outgoing President Olusegun Obasanjo selected then-Governor Jonathan 
to be the People's Democratic Party vice presidential candidate with 
Umaru Yar'Adua, a presidential candidate from the north, in the 2007 
elections. Yar'Adua was ill for much of his time in office, and 
Jonathan was called on to exercise presidential authority in November 
2009 when Yar'Adua was unable to do so. Nigerian power brokers accepted 
Jonathan as official Acting President in February 2010. When Yar'Adua 
finally died in May 2010, these power brokers only accepted Jonathan to 
be sworn in as president because he was not considered a threat and 
likely wouldn't run for reelection.
  However, Jonathan surprised them by announcing in September 2010 that 
he had consulted widely throughout Nigeria and would run for president. 
Jonathan won the presidential election convincingly, but his ruling 
People's Democratic Party lost seats in the Senate and the House of 
Representatives, and PDP now holds four fewer governorships--down to 23 
of 36.
  In October 2010, the Jonathan Administration called for the fuel 
subsidy to be removed. The government's decision was met with 
demonstrations and strikes by national unions. But while the unions 
agreed to end strikes and protests, the Joint Action Forum, a civil 
society affiliate of the unions, continued protests for a time 
throughout the country. The government responded with what human rights 
groups charged was excessive force. In northern Kano State, a student 
was shot to death in the course of breaking up a rally.
  In addition to the resentment caused by government brutality in 
dealing with the largely youth-led fuel subsidy protests, high 
unemployment, resentment over perceived government corruption, and 
mismanagement and experience in organizing social protests may yet have 
a lasting impact on Nigerian politics and society.
  The issues of excessive government force in the Niger Delta, northern 
Nigeria and other areas of the country over several past governments in 
Nigeria has fed resentment. Combined with the northern political 
opposition, the increasing resistance by minorities and the civil 
society political revolt, the Jonathan Administration faces significant 
forces arrayed against it. The questions our government must answer 
are: will this government withstand its opposition and what can we do 
to help Nigeria to remain Africa's essential nation?

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