“Nigeria opposes and does not encourage religious persecution. Nigeria is a country with constitutional guarantees to protect its citizens of all faiths,” President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said.
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President Donald Trump appeared on Truth Social on November 1 and announced that he had directed the Department of the Army to prepare for possible action against the Nigerian government over the “murder of Christians.”
In addition to immediately halting all aid and assistance to Nigeria, Trump’s post said that U.S. forces may “open fire” into Nigeria to “completely wipe out Islamic terrorists who are committing horrific atrocities.”
“If we attack, it will be as fast, vicious, and sweet as terrorist thugs attack our beloved Christians! Warning: Nigeria’s government better move fast!” Trump concluded his post.
Trump’s warning came after he accused Nigeria of religious freedom violations on October 31, saying “Christianity faces an existential threat in Nigeria,” and later designated the country as a “country of special concern” under international religious freedom laws, CNN and the Associated Press reported.
The report said the president’s labeling suggests that his administration has found evidence that Nigeria is engaging in or condoning “systematic and ongoing (and) gross violations of religious freedom.”
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After President Trump’s designation and before mentioning military involvement, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu wrote in a post to X on November 1: “Characterizing Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect the reality of our country, nor does it take into account the government’s consistent and sincere efforts to protect the freedom of religion and belief of all Nigerians.”
“Religious freedom and tolerance are and will remain core tenets of our collective identity,” Tinubu’s post continued. “Nigeria opposes and does not encourage religious persecution. Nigeria is a country with constitutional guarantees that protect citizens of all faiths.”
Tinubu said the Nigerian government is “committed to working with the U.S. government and the international community to deepen understanding and cooperation in the protection of communities of all faiths.”
The Tinubu administration did not respond to requests for comment.
“That’s a gross exaggeration.”
Reacting to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who condemned the “genocide of thousands of Christians” in a social media post, Tinubu’s spokesperson Bayo Onanuga called the depiction a “gross exaggeration of the situation in Nigeria”, adding that “Christians, Muslims, churches and mosques are being attacked randomly.”
“What our country is asking for from the United States is military assistance to combat violent extremism in some of our states, not designation as a country of special concern,” Onanuga said in his Answer X post.
