United States Congressman, Rep. Riley Moore, has condemned the latest deadly attack in Plateau State, North-Central Nigeria, insisting that Nigeria should not be removed from the United States State Department’s list of “Countries of Particular Concern” (CPC) over alleged violations of religious freedom.
Moore, a Republican lawmaker and ally of US President Donald Trump, made the statement following the attack on the Binper community in Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State, where at least 23 residents were reportedly killed by gunmen between midnight on Monday and the early hours of Tuesday, August 18, 2026.
In a post shared on his official X account, Moore rejected the idea of lifting Nigeria’s CPC designation, arguing that the continued killings in the Middle Belt demonstrate that serious security and religious-freedom concerns remain unresolved.
“Christians are being slaughtered across the Middle Belt with impunity. There may be progress in the north, but nothing has changed in the Middle Belt where most attacks against Christians occur,” Moore wrote.
The congressman also took aim at the previous administration of former US President Joe Biden, accusing it of making a mistake by removing Nigeria from the CPC list.
According to Moore, the decision to remove the designation after Trump’s first term was followed by a worsening of violence against Christians.
“We cannot make the same mistake the Biden Administration made. Biden removed the CPC designation from Nigeria after President Trump’s first term and all hell broke loose on Christians. We must stop the genocide,” he stated.
The CPC designation is an important US foreign-policy tool used to identify countries whose governments engage in, tolerate or fail to adequately address severe violations of religious freedom.
Countries placed on the list may face diplomatic pressure and other measures from the United States, depending on the circumstances and decisions of the US government.
Meanwhile, the deadly attack in Binper has further heightened concerns over insecurity in Plateau State and other parts of Nigeria’s Middle Belt.
Residents and eyewitnesses said heavily armed attackers invaded the community while residents were asleep and moved from house to house, forcing their way into homes and killing occupants.
“They were moving from house to house, opening the doors of people who were sleeping and slaughtering them,” an eyewitness told SaharaReporters.
The eyewitness said more than 20 people had been confirmed dead by Tuesday morning, while several others sustained serious injuries and some residents remained missing.
Videos circulating online after the attack showed grieving women from the community protesting the killings and expressing anger over the repeated attacks on their communities.
The latest massacre adds to a long-running cycle of violence in Plateau State, where clashes involving farming and herding communities have frequently resulted in deaths, displacement and destruction of property.
Over the years, some of the violence in the Middle Belt has also taken on ethnic and religious dimensions, with Christian communities repeatedly reporting attacks and calling for stronger protection from government security agencies.
Moore’s intervention has now placed the Plateau killings within a wider US debate over Nigeria’s religious-freedom record and whether the country should continue to be subjected to heightened scrutiny by Washington.
The congressman’s comments also come amid renewed international attention on the security situation in Nigeria, particularly attacks on vulnerable communities in the Middle Belt.
For Moore, the latest bloodshed is further evidence that removing Nigeria from the CPC list would send the wrong message at a time when communities in Plateau and other parts of the Middle Belt continue to face deadly attacks.
He therefore urged the United States to maintain pressure on Nigeria to protect vulnerable communities and ensure that those responsible for attacks are held accountable.