The United States House of Representatives has introduced the “Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act of 2025,” a bill aimed at intensifying U.S. scrutiny of alleged religiously motivated violence in Nigeria and imposing sanctions on identified individuals. Filed as H.R.5808 on October 21, 2025, the measure was sponsored by Rep. Marlin A. Stutzman (R–Ind.), according to records sighted on the U.S. Congress website and reported by SaharaReporters.
H.R.5808 has been referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on the Judiciary for consideration. The bill directs that the President impose sanctions under Executive Order 13818 — the statute authorizing blocking of property of persons involved in serious human rights abuse or corruption — against persons identified in a required State Department report.
Under the bill, the Secretary of State must submit to Congress, not later than 90 days after enactment and annually thereafter, a report listing Nigerian persons who meet specified criteria. These include federal officials or state governors who, during the covered period, promoted, enacted, or maintained blasphemy laws through public advocacy, legislative action, or executive enforcement; persons who tolerated violence by non-state actors invoking religious justifications, including groups designated as foreign terrorist organizations; and individuals designated as specially designated global terrorists pursuant to Executive Order 13224.
The reporting requirement would also cover judges, magistrates, prison officials, or other judicial and law enforcement authorities who enforced blasphemy laws through prosecution, conviction, imprisonment, or other deprivations of liberty. The period covered by the initial report is defined as the 10 years preceding the date of enactment through the report submission date; subsequent reports would cover the interval since the previous report’s submission.
In addition to the sanctions and reporting provisions, the bill would require the Secretary of State, in reports under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 and the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act of 2016, to designate the Federal Republic of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for “engaging in or tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom,” and to designate Boko Haram and ISIS–West Africa as Entities of Particular Concern (EPC).
The bill’s referral to the relevant committees begins the legislative review process; further action will depend on committee consideration, possible amendments, and votes in the House and Senate.
