Members of the United Kingdom’s Parliament have called on the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, to confront President Bola Tinubu over the killing of Christians in Nigeria during the Nigerian leader’s upcoming state visit to the UK.
President Tinubu, accompanied by his wife, Oluremi Tinubu, is set to be hosted by the King and Queen at Windsor Castle on Wednesday, attending a state banquet as guests of honour.
He will then meet with Starmer at Downing Street on Thursday, marking the first Nigerian presidential state visit to the UK in 37 years.
MPs from the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Freedom of Religion or Belief (APPG FoRB) have written to Development Minister, Baroness Jenny Chapman, urging the UK government to press Tinubu on human rights protection in Nigeria, according to the Daily Mail.
The group’s Chairman, Jim Shannon, of the Democratic Unionist Party, said Nigeria must “take concrete steps to prevent the harassment, persecution and killing of Christians, while ensuring that perpetrators are investigated and prosecuted.”
The letter, signed by 209 MPs and peers, expressed concern that the Nigerian state had not treated attacks on Christians with sufficient seriousness. The MPs also demanded that the Nigerian government provide updates on the case of Leah Sharibu, one of 110 schoolgirls kidnapped in 2018.
The push by the British MPs to query Tinubu came just as the Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals Development, yesterday, alleged that an embattled mining firm, Jupiter Ltd, was planning a smear campaign against Nigeria.
He made the claim during the visit of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to the United Kingdom.
The government said the company intended to circulate false allegations to discredit Nigeria and the ongoing reforms in the mining sector.
In a statement by Segun Tomori, the Special Assistant on Media to the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, the ministry said the planned smear campaign followed a recent rebuttal of what it described as false claims sponsored by Jupiter Ltd in a publication titled “Nigeria Seizes British Lithium Project Under Armed Guard.”
Tomori noted that an earlier response by the Special Adviser to the Minister, Kehinde Bamigbetan, titled “In Nigeria’s Mining Sector, The Law Is No Respecter of Persons,” had already debunked the allegations.
He said: “The bone of contention is the strict application of regulations governing the mining sector, which necessitated the revocation of mineral titles belonging to a Nigerian company, Basin Mining Ltd, fronted for by the said Mr Davis, an Australian national.”
Tomori alleged that Davis operated multiple companies to acquire mineral licences without conducting actual mining operations, thereby denying genuine investors access to the sector.
He urged Nigerians and members of the international community to disregard what he described as attempts by “discredited individuals” to undermine ongoing reforms in the mining industry.
The Guardian
