United States lawmakers were on Tuesday urged to mount stronger pressure on the Nigerian government to abolish Sharia law in northern states where it has been implemented and to dismantle the Hisbah religious enforcement groups.
Experts warned that these structures continue to deepen systematic persecution against Christians and other minority groups.
Speaking at a joint House briefing convened in response to President Donald Trump’s earlier directive and the designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern, Dr Ebenezer Obadare of the Council on Foreign Relations said extremist organisations such as Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province, ISWAP, and radicalised Fulani militias take advantage of Sharia frameworks and Hisbah operatives to spread extremist ideology, force religious conversions and carry out attacks with little resistance.
Outlining a strategy for addressing the violence, Obadare told lawmakers that the United States must pursue a two-track approach.
According to a statement released by the House Appropriations Committee, he advised Washington to work closely with the Nigerian military to neutralise Boko Haram while also pressing President Bola Tinubu to make Sharia law unconstitutional in the twelve northern states that adopted it in 2000 and to dissolve Hisbah groups operating across the region.
He noted that recent actions by the Nigerian government show that external pressure can be effective.
Since the CPC designation and President Trump’s warning of possible unilateral action against Boko Haram, he said President Tinubu has ordered air strikes on insurgent positions, approved the recruitment of thirty thousand additional police officers and declared a national security emergency.
Obadare, however, stressed that these steps remain insufficient and that continued pressure from Washington is essential.
The bipartisan session, led by Appropriations Vice Chair Mario Díaz Balart and attended by members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, featured repeated claims that the Nigerian government has failed to confront what lawmakers described as religious cleansing across the north and the Middle Belt.
Witnesses pointed to the November 22 kidnapping of pupils and teachers from St Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, Niger State, ongoing prosecutions under blasphemy laws and repeated mass killings.
They rejected suggestions that the crisis is driven solely by competition for land and resources.
Obadare said the heart of the problem remains unchecked jihadist violence. According to him, Boko Haram’s campaign to dismantle the Nigerian state and establish an Islamic order continues to endanger national stability.
He argued that any meaningful solution must prioritise the complete defeat of the insurgent movement.
‘Pressure Nigeria to abolish Sharia law, disband Hisbah’ – US panel tells lawmakers
