Simon Ateba is Chief White House Correspondent for Today News Africa. Simon covers President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, the U.S. government, the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other financial and international institutions in Washington D.C. and New York City.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken has since returned to the United States following what the State Department described as “a productive, a constructive, an excellent trip” to Kenya, Nigeria and Senegal. But back here at home, Christian groups, a United States government panel and former senior U.S. diplomats are furious over his decision to take Nigeria off a list of countries accused of engaging in or tolerating religious persecution. One former republican Congressman described Blinken’s decision as a “victory for the terrorists.”