By Ademola Adekusibe
November 4, 2025.
U.S. Congressman Riley Moore has accused former Kano State Governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, of complicity in the persecution and killing of Christians in northern Nigeria, alleging that the politician personally signed into law the Sharia penal code that prescribes death for blasphemy.
In a post on his verified X (formerly Twitter) handle, Moore addressed Kwankwaso directly, writing:
“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 U.S. lawmaker accompanied his post with a screenshot of a 2000 BBC News report titled “Kano introduces full Sharia law”, which documented how Kwankwaso’s administration officially implemented Islamic legal codes during his tenure as governor.
Kwankwaso, who served as Kano governor from 1999 to 2003 and again from 2011 to 2015, has faced renewed scrutiny following his earlier remarks defending Nigeria’s human rights record.
Moore’s comments came after Kwankwaso dismissed U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent designation of Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” over alleged persecution of Christians.
At the time, Kwankwaso said the country’s security crisis was not religious or ethnic in nature and urged the U.S. to support Nigeria’s fight against insecurity rather than issue threats.
The congressman’s remarks have since reignited global attention on the enforcement of Sharia law in northern Nigeria, and its implications for freedom of religion and the safety of Christian minorities.
