CPC Tag: Rights Groups Seek End To Hisbah, Blasphemy Laws

A coalition of civil society, human rights and religious freedom advocates has written to the National Assembly and the Attorney-General of the Federation, seeking a repeal of blasphemy laws in Nigeria.

The groups also called for a review of the laws establishing religious paramilitary and quasi-legal bodies like Hisbah operating in many states in Northern Nigeria.

Similarly, the groups also urged caution in the implementation of the Sharia law, which is currently operational in 12 states in the North.

Warning that Nigeria now stands on the brink of unprecedented global censure following its redesignation as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC).

Recall that US President Donald Trump had, a few weeks ago, relabelled Nigeria as a CPC, claiming Christian genocide in the country and threatening to deploy the American military in Nigeria “to kill the terrorists killing Christians”.

The groups, coalescing under the umbrella of Global Coalition for Freedom of Religion in Nigeria (GCFRN),
alleged past and ongoing “egregious violations of religious freedom” in Nigeria.

Listed in the GCFRN are the Justice for Jos Project, led by US-based activist Emmanuel Ogebe; a former lawmaker, Rimamnde Shawulu; the former chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr Sam Amadi; the founder of the Para-Mallam Foundation, Rev. Dr Gideon Para-Mallam; and crusader Rev. Dr Polycarp Gbaja.

In a letter to the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, the group noted a reported move by the National Assembly to send a delegation of Nigerian lawmakers to the US to defend the country against allegations of Christian genocide as levelled by President Trump.

But the groups’ letter, dated November 2, 2025, warned that Nigeria now stands on the brink of unprecedented global censure following its designation by the Donald Trump administration as a CPC for “past egregious violations of religious freedom”.

They accused the Nigerian government of attempting to deny what is “undeniable”, warning that the National Assembly delegation might end up “rebutting documented facts they cannot refute”.

They insisted that such a move would only “open Nigeria to ridicule” and reinforce suspicions that the state is either too weak to stop religious persecution or, worse, complicit in it.

The coalition also noted that the U.S. Congress, the UK Parliament and Canada’s Parliament had, at one point or another, raised the alarm over the deteriorating situation of religious minorities in Nigeria.

It added that the latest 2025 USCIRF report, whose recommendations triggered President Trump’s CPC designation, cited the existence of state blasphemy laws invoking capital punishment.

It also noted the Sharia legal frameworks being applied to non-Muslims, the closure of Christian schools during Ramadan, a systemic pattern of discrimination across northern states, and the kidnappings, abductions and targeted killings of Christian clerics.

The letter further noted that the CPC redesignation was not new, pointing out that it returned because Nigeria has failed repeatedly to address the underlying violations.

It further emphasises that the current crisis is rooted in historical decisions taken by British authorities under indirect rule, arguing that evidence abounds that vast Christian and animist communities were “delivered into the hands of the Caliphate,” thereby creating decades of tensions that still define northern Nigeria.

The authors of the letter also accused several northern states of operating as exclusive Muslim entities, systematically restricting Christian access to education, land, civil service appointments and public facilities.

They list disturbing examples, alleging that Christians are being denied land for churches in Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, Zamfara, Borno, Jigawa and Yobe, while mosques freely proliferate.

“Demolished churches have remained unrepaired since the 2011 post-election violence and Boko Haram attacks, even as students are being forced to worship under trees in institutions such as Sokoto Polytechnic, Tsafe Health School and KUST, Wudil.

“Government is fully aware that Christian girls are being abducted and forcibly converted by Boko Haram, neighbours or Sharia Commissions — with Leah Sharibu and many unnamed victims still in captivity while a high number of communities are being attacked for their faith, with churches destroyed while mosques are spared,” the letter further read.

The coalition cited video evidence, security reports, UN submissions, and documented testimonies linking many attacks to extremist groups motivated by religious ideology.

“Federal authorities have for years failed to prosecute those responsible for religiously motivated killings—the lynching of Deborah Samuel in Sokoto, the murder of Eunice Olawale in Abuja, and the destruction of 764 churches in 12 northern states after Buhari’s 2011 election loss—with almost no convictions.”

Continuing, the coalition wrote, “This climate of impunity is compounded by structural bias within the current Muslim-Muslim presidency and security establishment.

“The closure of the Aso Rock Chapel is symbolic of shrinking religious space. Some Chibok girls released by Boko Haram remain in government custody, cohabiting with their captors.”

In a sweeping indictment of official discrimination, the letter points to the ₦12.4bn allocated to mosques and Islamic schools in the 2022 budget, compared with ₦24m for Christian schools.

The coalition called for the establishment of a National Board for Christian Religious Studies (NBCRS) to match the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies (NBAIS), or the scrapping of NBAIS, “to end structural imbalance”.

It also demanded urgent legislative steps, including a National Assembly investigation into constitutional violations across northern states, a federal law outlawing blasphemy statutes in all states, equal land rights for churches and chapels in all federal institutions, protection for Christian pupils from forced Islamic studies or Ramadan-era school closures, as well as the abolition of Hisbah and Sharia Commissions’ enforcement powers.

Cautioning the National Assembly against political defensiveness, the coalition also demanded the recovery of over 200 illegally occupied Christian communities across Plateau, Kaduna, Benue and elsewhere.

It called for public hearings on religious freedom, with full access to the coalition’s “massive data”.

Stressing that every life matters, the agitators urged Senate President Akpabio and Speaker Abbas to seize the moment to rebuild confidence in Nigeria’s constitutional commitment to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

They warned that failure to act will seriously expose Nigerian officials and institutions to the risk of sanctions under U.S. laws.

Copies of the coalition’s 13-page letter were sent to the relevant Nigerian and American officials, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, and the Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Other recipients include U.S. Senators Ted Cruz, Ted Budd, Josh Hawley, Pete Ricketts, James Lankford, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Also listed as recipients were U.S. Congressman Chris Smith, who is Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Africa; U.S. Congressman Tom Cole, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee; U.S. Congressman Riley Moore and U.S. Congressman Marlin Stutzman.