Nigeria, Nov. 21 -- The United States House Subcommittee on Africa, on Thursday, held a sharply divided hearing on President Donald Trump's redesignation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) over alleged persecution of Christians.

Lawmakers split along two broad narratives, with some framing the crisis as "Christian genocide" and others warning against a dangerous oversimplification of Nigeria's complex violence.

The subcommittee chairman, Chris Smith, opened the hearing by alleging "systematic and accelerating violence against predominantly Christian communities in Nigeria." He said: "Nigeria is ground zero, the focal point of the most brutal and murderous anti-Christian persecution in the world today," describing the se...