“Neither Africa, nor the world, can afford Nigeria to become a failed state,” the chairman of the US bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The nation of 219 million (map), the most populous in Africa and 6th most populous in the world, is 46% Muslim, 46% Christian (36% Protestant, 10% Catholic), and 7% ethnic religionist.

“I appreciate you hearing this renewed plea to work for credible elections in February,” Bishop David Malloy of Rockford (IL) continued. “Specifically, I urge you to consider the invaluable insights of the CBCN [Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria], which extend well beyond their public statements.”