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Trump threatens military action against Nigeria over alleged killings of Christians
U.S. President Donald Trump has warned of possible military intervention in Nigeria if the West African nation fails to stop what he described as the “killing of Christians” by “Islamist terrorists.” The Nigerian government has strongly denied the allegations, calling them misleading and politically motivated.
The threat, made on Trump’s platform Truth Social on Saturday, follows months of lobbying from conservative lawmakers and Christian advocacy groups in the United States who claim that Nigerian Christians are victims of a “genocide.” Trump wrote, “If the Nigerian government continues to tolerate the murder of Christians, the United States will immediately cut off all aid to Nigeria — and we may very well go there and wipe out these Islamic terrorists who commit such horrible atrocities.”
The U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth later confirmed on X that the Pentagon was “preparing for potential action,” emphasizing that Washington would “not stand idle while Christians are slaughtered.”
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has long struggled with complex security challenges, including the Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast that has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced over two million since 2009. The nation is almost evenly divided between a Muslim-majority north and a Christian-majority south, and sporadic violence in central regions often blurs the line between ethnic and religious conflict.
President Bola Tinubu responded on X, rejecting Trump’s accusations: “The characterization of Nigeria as a nation intolerant of religion does not reflect our national reality.”
Experts note that extremist groups such as Boko Haram and its offshoot ISWAP also target Muslim civilians, while clashes between herders and farmers — often portrayed as religious — are largely driven by competition for land and resources.
Observers say Trump’s statements echo his past rhetoric regarding white Afrikaners in South Africa, where he previously claimed they faced a “genocide” and offered refugee status to some of them. Critics argue such comments risk inflaming sectarian tensions and undermining U.S.–Africa relations.