Congressman Bill Huizenga says an airstrike ordered this week by President Donald Trump on an alleged Islamic State camp in Nigeria demonstrates the United States is taking attacks on Christians in that country seriously.
Huizenga told us earlier this month that radical groups in Nigeria have been terrorizing Christians living there and not much has been done to protect them.
“The Nigerian government has really been turning a blind eye towards religious violence that has been taking place, and primarily with radical jihadist Muslims attacking Christians literally in churches, literally in their homes because of their religion,” Huizenga said on December 4.
Huizenga says in west Michigan, the issue is well known due to strong ties to Nigeria through the Christian Reformed Church. He says he went to Calvin College with many Nigerian students and has been closely monitoring the current situation for months.
“I’ve had Zoom calls and phone calls with both clergy and citizens in Nigeria. I’ve talked to ministers and missionaries here in West Michigan that have spent time there, that have friends there, that have family there, and it’s a significant problem.”
Following the strike on Thursday in the village of Jabo, Huizenga issued a statement saying a congressional delegation he led to Nigeria this month “provided insight that some attitudes inside the Nigerian government are beginning to turn in favor of protecting Christians.” He says Thursday’s strike was in coordination with the government of Nigeria.
Huizenga says he welcomes the action because “the US was too late in Rwanda and too late in South Sudan.”
