United States President Donald Trump has issued a stern warning to Nigeria, threatening to halt all US aid and possibly take military action if the killings of Christians in the country continue.
In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said, “If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.”
He directed the US Department of War to prepare for potential action, warning that any strike would be “fast, vicious, and sweet,” and urged the Nigerian government to act quickly. “I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians! WARNING: THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT BETTER MOVE FAST,” he added.
Trump’s warning came a day after Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu rejected his earlier designation of Nigeria as a “country of particular concern,” a label Trump used to highlight what he called the persecution of Christians. The Washington Post reported that Tinubu dismissed the accusations as baseless.
Nigeria’s Information Minister Mohammed Idris denied claims of systematic targeting of Christians, calling reports of mass persecution “very misleading,” according to Fox News.
Trump’s remarks followed his move to classify Nigeria as a “country of particular concern,” citing what he described as an “existential threat” to Christianity due to ongoing violence between Muslim and Christian communities.
Blaming “radical Islamists” for the killings, Trump said he had asked two US lawmakers, Riley Moore and Tom Cole, to investigate the issue. “I am asking Congressman Riley Moore, together with Chairman Tom Cole and the House Appropriations Committee, to immediately look into this matter and report back to me,” he wrote.
“Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter. I am hereby making Nigeria a ‘COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN.’ But that is the least of it. When Christians, or any such group, is slaughtered like is happening in Nigeria (3,100 versus 4,476 Worldwide), something must be done!” Trump said.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation with around 220 million people, is nearly evenly divided between Christians and Muslims. Insurgent groups such as Boko Haram have long waged violent campaigns, targeting civilians from both faiths.
President Tinubu responded that labeling Nigeria as intolerant “does not reflect our national reality,” insisting that religious freedom “has been a core tenet of our collective identity and shall always remain so."
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