Trump threatens US military action in Nigeria over treatment of Chrians | World News

US President Donald Trump on Saturday said he has asked the Defense Department to prepare for possible “fast” military action in Nigeria if the West African nation fails to crack down on the killing of Chrians. The US government will also immediately stop all aid and assance to Nigeria, Trump said in a post on Truth Social. If the United States sends in military forces, it would go in “‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrors who are committing these horrible atrocities,” Trump wrote, without providing any evidence of specifics about the treatment of Chrians in Nigeria.
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Trump called Nigeria a “disgraced country” and warned its government must move quickly. “If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terror thugs attack our CHERISHED Chrians!” he wrote.

Abuja had no immediate reaction to Trump’s threat of military action. The White House also had no immediate comment on the potential timing of any US military action. His social media post came a day after his adminration added Nigeria back to a “Countries of Particular Concern” l of nations that the US says have violated religious freedom. Other nations on the l include China, Myanmar, North Korea, Russia and Pakan.

Before Trump posted his attack threat, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu earlier Saturday pushed back against the claims of religious intolerance and defended his country’s efforts to protect religious freedom. “The characterization of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality, nor does it take into consideration the consent and sincere efforts of the government to safeguard freedom of religion and beliefs for all Nigerians,” Tinubu said in a statement, citing “constitutional guarantees to protect citizens of all faiths.”

Nigeria’s Foreign Minry, in a separate statement, vowed to keep fighting violent extremism and said it hoped Washington would remain a close ally, saying it “will continue to defend all citizens, irrespective of race, creed, or religion. Like America, Nigeria has no option but to celebrate the diversity that is our greatest strength.”

The US military footprint in West Africa was significantly diminished when about 1,000 troops withdrew from Niger last year. While the US sometimes has small groups of troops in the region to take part in drills, the largest US military base on the continent is in East Africa in Djibouti, which hosts over 5,000 troops and is used for operations in the region.

TRUMP PUT NIGERIA ON ‘CONCERN L’ DURING FIRST TERM

Trump had designated Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and top oil producer, a country of concern during his first term in the White House. His Democratic successor Joe Biden removed it from the US State Department l in 2021. On Friday, Trump said “thousands of Chrians” were being killed in Nigeria radical Islams, but offered no details.

Nigeria, which has 200 ethnic groups practicing Chrianity, Islam and traditional religions, has a long hory of peaceful coexence, but it has also seen flare-ups of violence among groups, often exacerbated ethnic divisions or conflict over scarce resources.

The extrem Islam armed group Boko Haram has also terrorized northeast Nigeria, an insurgency that has killed tens of thousands of people over the past 15 years, although human rights experts have said most victims have been Muslims.

US lawmakers such as Representative Tom Cole, a Republican who chairs the US House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, hailed Trump’s move on Friday, citing what they called “the alarming and ongoing persecution of Chrians across the country.”

The committee’s fiscal 2026 national security appropriations bill included increased funding for international religious freedom programs and support for programs supporting communities in Nigeria targeted extrem violence.

Trump’s re-designation of Nigeria as a country of concern opens the door to a range of policy responses such as sanctions or waivers, but they are not automatic.

Some religious groups pressed Trump for the re-designation in a letter last month, according to a copy on the Hudson Institute think tank’s website.

“Chrianity is facing an exential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Chrians are being killed. Radical Islams are responsible for this mass slaughter,” Trump wrote without offering any specifics. He also called on the US House of Representatives Appropriations Committee to investigate.