This is coming barely forty-eight hours after the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo announced in a statement on Friday, December 20, 2019, that the United States has placed Nigeria on its Special Watch List (SWL) of countries that engage in severe religious persecution..

According to Shehu, placing Nigeria on U.S. watch list carries no immediate implication, and that does not in any way make the country an area of concern as being asserted in some quarters.

“The correct U.S. government position is that the addition of Nigeria to the watch list of the IRF does not make Nigeria a country of concern on religious freedom.

“The watch list carries no immediate implication, except for the need for both countries to discuss areas of concern over the next year. We are looking forward to such discussions with our partners, the U.S.’’

The presidential aide maintained that Nigeria as geo-political entity had no policy that promotes one religion against the other.

According to him, the right to freedom of worship for all citizens is guaranteed in the Nigerian constitution.

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“We have no policy that promotes one religion against the other.

“The right to freedom is guaranteed by the constitution and we have no problem observing that,’’ he said.

The inclusion of Nigeria in the religion violations list, has continued to attract mixed reactions over the past few hours on social media.