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US President Donald Trump on Saturday said he is ordering the Pentagon to start planning for military action in Nigeria as he increases the Government’s failure to prosecute West African countries.
“If the Nigerian government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the USA will stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may enter this Islamic country,” completely erasing the Islamic terrorists who do these horrible things that show these horrible things. “That’s how I teach our War Department to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be quick, brutal, and delicious, just like the terrorist thugs attacked our precious Christians!”
The military warning of the war came after Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu early Saturday pushed back against Trump declaring a day in West Africa “in a country of obvious concern” for allegedly failing to persecute Christians.
In a statement on social media on Saturday, Tinubu said Nigeria’s status as a religiously intolerant country does not reflect the nation’s reality.
“Religious freedom and tolerance have been and will always be the foundation of the united people,” said Tinibu. “Nigeria opposes religious persecution and does not encourage it. Nigeria is a country with constitutional guarantees to protect citizens of all faiths.”
Trump on Friday said that “Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria” and that “Muslims of color are responsible for this mass murder.”
Trump’s comments came weeks after US Sen. Ted Cruz urged Congress to name the most populous country in Africa as a religious freedom crusader with claims of “Christian genocide.”
Nigeria’s population of 220 million is divided almost equally between Christians and Muslims. The country is facing the old sun that is not protected in various frames including the boko haram group outside, which wants to establish its big interpretation of the Islamic law and targets Muslims who see and not enough Muslims.
Attacks in Nigeria have various purposes. There are religiously motivated people targeting both Christians and Muslims, clashes between farmers and peasants over dwindling resources, social rivalries, groups of scounces.
While Christians are among those targeted, analysts say most of the victims of the armed groups are Muslims in Nigeria – mostly in the North, where the attacks took place.
Kimiebi Ebienfa, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reiterated Nigeria’s commitment to protect citizens of all religions.
“The federal government of Nigeria will continue to protect all citizens, regardless of ethnicity, race, creed,” Ebienfa said in a statement on Saturday. “Like America, Nigeria has no choice but to celebrate diversity as our greatest strength.”
Nigeria was placed on the US national alert for the first time in 2020 over what the Ministry called “systematic violations of religious freedom.” The appointment, which was not attacked by the indifference of Christians, was proposed in 2023 in what the observer saw as a way to improve relations between those nations before then-secretary of government visits.