United States President Donald Trump has said there could be more military strikes by the US in Nigeria if Christians continue to be killed in the country, even as Nigeria’s federal government has denied that Christians are facing systematic persecution.
Trump made the remarks in an interview with The New York Times, published on the newspaper’s website on Thursday.
He was responding to questions about Washington’s Christmas Day military strike in Nigeria.
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Tribune Online reports that the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) said the operation targeted Islamic State militants in northwest Nigeria and was carried out in collaboration with the Nigerian government.
At the time, Nigeria described the strike as a “joint operation” against “terrorists” and said it had “nothing to do with a particular religion.”
According to Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, the recent United States airstrikes on terrorist targets in north-western Nigeria were carried out with Nigeria’s full cooperation, approval and intelligence support, stressing that the operation neither violated the country’s sovereignty nor targeted any religious group.
Responding to questions in the interview with The New York Times, Trump was quoted as saying, “I’d love to make it a one-time strike … But if they continue to kill Christians, it will be a many-time strike.”
When asked about comments by his own Africa adviser that Islamic State and Boko Haram militants were killing more Muslims than Christians, Trump replied: “I think that Muslims are being killed also in Nigeria. But it’s mostly Christians.”
Meanwhile, a United States lawmaker, Riley Moore, who disclosed that the US military fired 12 Tomahawk missiles against ISIS fighters in Nigeria, said the airstrikes are only the beginning of a broader military effort, adding that more action would follow in collaboration with Nigerian authorities.
In late October, Trump began warning that Christianity faces an “existential threat” in Nigeria and threatened military intervention over what he described as the country’s failure to stop violence against Christian communities.
However, the Nigerian government denied the allegations, clarifying that the insecurity challenges in the country target no specific religion as both Christians and Muslims are affected.
Following strategic engagements between the US and Nigeria, through a Nigerian delegation led National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Tribune Online reports that the US War Secretary, Pete Hegseth, announced that the U.S. military “is working aggressively with Nigeria to end the persecution of Christians by jihadist terrorists.”
