Taiwo POPOOLA
The New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, has said it received with shock reports that the Congress of the United States of America is considering a bill titled The Nigeria Religious Freedom and Accountability Act, 2026 (H.R. 7457), in which the national leader of the party, Rabiu Kwankwaso, was named as the sole individual, alongside the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association and a Fulani ethnic militia, to face targeted sanctions, including visa bans and asset freezes.
This, according to the reports, is due to his purported responsibility for “severe religious freedom violations.”
Responding to the reports, the NNPP National Publicity Secretary, Ladipo Johnson, dismissed any suggestion that Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso has been responsible, in any way, for religious freedom violations.
The party said it was curious and regrettable that Kwankwaso would be cited for issues he knew nothing about.
“We see this development as a contrived action against an innocent man who clearly has no relationship with religious fundamentalism in Nigeria.
“His record is in the public domain, both in public office and in private life, and people should investigate such matters properly before reaching such conclusions,” the party said.
Johnson stated that months before the latest development, Kwankwaso had openly reacted when President Donald Trump re-designated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern over alleged religious persecution.
In a statement posted on his X handle at the time, Senator Kwankwaso cautioned against what he described as oversimplified characterisations of Nigeria’s internal challenges.
Kwankwaso stated that it was important to emphasise that Nigeria is a sovereign nation whose people face diverse threats from outlaws across the country.
However, in a post shared on X, Rep. Riley Moore of the U.S. Congress stated to Kwankwaso: “Governor, do you care to comment on your own complicity in the death of Christians? You instituted Sharia law. You signed the law that makes so-called blasphemy punishable by death.”
The NNPP said this allegation stemmed from the fact that Kano State, under Kwankwaso’s leadership, brought the Islamic legal code into full effect, joining other northern states such as Zamfara, Sokoto, Katsina, Yobe, Jigawa, and Borno.
“But is this enough to accuse Kwankwaso of severe religious freedom violations? Why were the other state governors who introduced Sharia in their states not accused as well?” the statement asked.
“Is Rep. Moore being fair or selective? Isn’t the U.S. in good relations with Qatar and Saudi Arabia, both Sharia countries? Why is this coming just after our government apparently paid for a consultant in the U.S.? Isn’t it strange that it is Kwankwaso, an opposition leader who has spoken out repeatedly about insecurity under this administration, that the United States now seems to be turning on?”
The party recalled that as governor of Kano State, Senator Kwankwaso ensured that the Boko Haram sect was wiped out of the state, adding that his close relationships with Christian leaders in Kano and across the country attest to his credibility as a national leader and statesman.
“Even when he was pressured to introduce Sharia, he still lost his election because predominantly Muslim voters punished him for supporting a Christian presidential candidate, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. Furthermore, in 2023, he ran his presidential campaign with a Christian bishop, Bishop Isaac Idahosa, as his running mate.
