U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to deploy American military forces to Nigeria over what he described as “systematic killings” of Christians in the country.
In a fiery post on his Truth Social platform on Saturday, Trump accused the Nigerian government of turning a blind eye to what he called an “ongoing massacre of Christians by Islamist terrorists.”
He warned that unless immediate action is taken to halt the alleged violence, the United States could “go in guns blazing” to defend what he termed “our cherished Christians.”
“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,” Trump declared.
The president, who has been increasingly vocal about global Christian persecution, claimed that he had instructed the Pentagon to draw up “contingency plans” for potential strikes against extremist elements in Nigeria.
“If we attack,” he said, “it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our cherished Christians.”
Trump’s remarks follow his earlier post on Friday in which he alleged that Christians in Nigeria were facing an “existential threat.”
He further labeled Nigeria a “country of particular concern” — a diplomatic tag used by the U.S. State Department for nations accused of severe violations of religious freedom.
His comments sparked immediate diplomatic reaction from Abuja.
President Bola Tinubu dismissed Trump’s assertions as misleading, insisting that Nigeria remains committed to the protection of citizens of all faiths.
“Religious freedom and tolerance are fundamental values in our national life. Nigeria opposes religious persecution and does not condone it,” Tinubu said in a statement issued by his media office.
The Nigerian government has maintained that conflicts often labeled as religious are, in reality, driven by complex socio-economic and political factors.
Security experts have long argued that violence in Nigeria’s Middle Belt and northern regions affects both Christians and Muslims alike, with banditry, farmer-herder clashes, and terrorism interwoven into the crisis
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