US Congressman Bill Huizenga has sharply criticised President Bola Tinubu’s administration, accusing it of “sitting back” as insecurity worsens across Nigeria.

Huizenga made the remarks on Thursday while testifying before the US House Subcommittee on Africa, which is reviewing Nigeria’s recent redesignation as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC). During the session, he said Nigeria’s delegation had downplayed the severity of the crisis during engagements in Washington.

“It ought to be outrageous that it is Christians, moderate Muslims, and anyone being terrorised by these radicalised Islamists in Nigeria, and we’ve got the Tinubu government sitting back and not doing enough,” he said. When asked by Nigerian television whether the Tinubu government was doing enough to curb the violence, he responded, “No, they are not.”

Huizenga also questioned why Nigerian officials would “come up with excuses” for the attacks, arguing that such explanations should be rejected. He criticised sections of the media and some members of Congress for “denying” or “de-emphasising” the scale of killings. “I went to school with kids from Nigeria… We’ve got neighbours who’ve been missionaries there… who know this is going on. Yet, we’ve got not just the mass media, we’ve got people within the Congress denying that this is happening,” he said.

Recalling the Christmas Eve 2023 attack that claimed 200 lives, Huizenga argued that security conditions in Nigeria had not improved. He also raised concerns about religiously targeted attacks, asking: “Do we see Christians killing Muslims the way radicalised Islamists kill Christians in Muslim areas?”

Thursday’s hearing follows former US President Donald Trump’s decision on 31 October 2025 to return Nigeria to the CPC list, citing systematic persecution of Christians, while noting that military options were under review.

The Nigerian government has rejected the accusation. President Tinubu insisted, “Nigeria stands firmly as a democracy governed by constitutional guarantees of religious liberty. The characterisation of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our reality.”

Nigeria was first placed on the CPC list in 2020 under Trump before being removed by former President Joe Biden shortly after taking office.