Donald Trump to Bola Tinubu: “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. 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!“
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he has asked the Defense Department to prepare for possible military action in Nigeria if the Nigerian government “continues to allow the killing of Christians.”
The U.S. government will also immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Trump said the U.S. 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.”
The social media post reads: https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115476385101120405
“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. 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!”
This threat comes a day after Trump declared Nigeria a “country of particular concern” for religious freedom.
TheNiche had earlier reported that on Friday, the U.S. President threatened possible sanctions against Nigeria, declaring it a “country of particular concern” in terms of religious freedom — a classification President Tinubu pushed back on.
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Nigeria’s estimated population of 220 million, the largest in Africa, is largely split between Christians and Muslims, with insurgent groups like Boko Haram declaring ideological aims to impose a version of Islamic rule, which has often led to the persecution of both Christians and Muslims living in the nation.
In response to Trump’s claims Friday, Tinubu, pushed back on social media, arguing that to characterize the country as religiously intolerant “does not reflect our national reality.” Religious freedom has “been a core tenet of our collective identity and shall always remain so,” he added.
Trump’s threats on Truth Social come after Senator Ted Cruz shined a spotlight on the issue earlier this month, accusing Nigeria of enabling a “massacre” on Christians.
The bipartisan United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has also urged that the U.S. government designate Nigeria a country of particular concern in its 2025 annual report, highlighting religious persecution of both Christians and Muslims.
Cruz introduced legislation to sanction Nigerian officials who are “ignoring and even facilitating the mass murder of Christians by Islamist jihadists.”
Trump said in his Friday post declaring the designation for Nigeria that he is directing Reps. Riley Moore and Tom Cole to “immediately look into this matter.”
“The United States cannot stand by while such atrocities are happening in Nigeria, and numerous other Countries,” the president wrote. “We stand ready, willing, and able to save our Great Christian population around the World!”
And his threat Saturday comes as his administration has taken significant overseas military action. In August, the U.S. began deploying a significant naval and military presence in the southern Caribbean, off the coast of Venezuela, conducting controversial lethal strikes against small vessels in international waters, alleging them to be narcotics-smuggling vessels.
