Trump Threatens To Send the U.S. Military To Nigeria Rebecca SchneidNovember 2, 2025 at 10:03 PM 8 Catholics gather for a mass at the Church of the Assumption in Lagos on April 21, 2025. Credit Olympia De Maismont—AFP via Getty Images President Donald Trump threatened to send the U.S. military into Nigeria "gunsablazing", citing claims of mass killing of Christians in the African nation. "If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A.
- - Trump Threatens To Send the U.S. Military To Nigeria
Rebecca SchneidNovember 2, 2025 at 10:03 PM
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Catholics gather for a mass at the Church of the Assumption in Lagos on April 21, 2025. Credit - Olympia De Maismont—AFP via Getty Images
President Donald Trump threatened to send the U.S. military into Nigeria "guns-a-blazing", citing claims of mass killing of Christians in the African nation.
"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," Trump posted on his Truth Social account, calling on the Nigerian government to "act fast."
Trump's post included a directive for the Pentagon to prepare for "possible action," to which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth responded: "Yes sir" on his social media."The killing of innocent Christians in Nigeria — and anywhere — must end immediately," Hegseth said on X. "The Department of War is preparing for action. Either the Nigerian Government protects Christians, or we will kill the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities."
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The threat came just two days after Trump threatened possible sanctions and removal of aid from the country of over 230 million people, claiming that Christianity is facing "an existential threat in Nigeria."
"Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter," he said on Truth Social on Friday, while announcing that he was designating Nigeria "a country of particular concern"—an official State Department designation given to countries where religious freedom is under threat.
Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu challenged Trump's characterization of the nation as religiously intolerant in a statement posted to social media on Saturday, saying that it "does not reflect our national reality, nor does it take into consideration the consistent and sincere efforts of the government to safeguard freedom of religion and beliefs for all Nigerians."
He continued, "Nigeria is a country with constitutional guarantees to protect citizens of all faiths."
Yet, Nigeria has announced that it would "welcome" assistance from the United States in fighting armed groups, provided the U.S. respects its territorial integrity.
Here's what we know about the situation.
Trump is reacting to viral claims
Claims of a genocide against Christians in Nigeria have been circulating in right-wing circles since earlier this year.
The viral claims have spread quickly on social media, reaching U.S. politicians and faith-based organizations.
Riley Moore, a Republican Congressman from West Virginia, claimed earlier this week that "50,000-100,000" of our brothers and sisters in Nigeria have been murdered for their faith in Christ.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican, claimed that officials in Nigeria are ignoring and even "facilitating the mass murder of Christians by Islamist Jihadists."
Nigerian officials and experts have countered those claims.
Cruz pushed for Trump to include announcing the West African country on a State Department watch list for "countries of particular concern," which Trump did on Friday.
Sunday Alamba—" data-src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/.TXeGFeNSDJGhTIZnd90gg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD05MzI-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/aol_time_773/94994117b1f85d1e356f2e7239f06401>Sunday Alamba—" src=https://ift.tt/73OqEx1 class=caas-img>A vendor sells local newspapers with headlines referring to US President Donald Trump's comments about Nigeria, on the street of Lagos, Nigeria, Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025. Sunday Alamba—
Cruz has been joined by some celebrities and pundits, including Bill Maher, who on his show has delivered a similar account of claims of Christian genocide in Nigeria, claiming that jihadist groups in the nation are "literally attempting to wipe out the Christian population of an entire country." Rapper Nicki Minaj also thanked Trump for shedding light on the issue.
Trump's forceful response to claims of a Christian genocide in Nigeria mirrors his equally aggressive measures when similar claims of a genocide against white farmers in South Africa spread online.
Those claims led to his administration prioritizing white refugees from South Africa while severely limiting the number of refugees allowed from any other nation. Trump has claimed that white Afrikaners, particularly farmers, were victims of a genocide, and made the population the first refugee group to land in America during his second term.
Read more: The Long History of the U.S. Backing White South Africans
South African officials have long disputed claims that Afrikaners are victims of racial persecution.
More Muslims killed than Christians
Nigeria has been facing brutal insurgencies from jihadist groups such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State for years, leading to thousands of deaths, but most attacks have been carried out in the majority Muslim northeast of the country, and the majority of the victims have been Muslim, according to the Council of Foreign Relations, "despite Boko Haram's murderous hostility to Christians."
The country is split evenly between Christians and Muslims, and the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom found in 2024 that the violence affects both populations in "large numbers."
According to data collected by the U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) program, there have been 20,409 deaths from 11,862 attacks against civilians in Nigeria between January 2020 and September 2025. Of that number, 385 attacks and 317 deaths were on Christian people, in which their religious identity played a factor. During the same time, 417 deaths were recorded among Muslims in 196 attacks.
The Council on Foreign Relations also notes that many attacks against Christians have taken place in the Middle Belt—a region of the country where all of Nigeria's ethnicities live—and often involve disputes over land, water and ethnicity, in addition to religion.
How have Nigerians reacted?
Many Nigerians have disputed Trump's characterization of their country and its treatment of Christians, including some Christian leaders.
Joseph Hayab, a former chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Kaduna state, among the worst hit by the insecurity, told the last month that he rejected the claims of "Christian genocide," and said that while there have been many Christians killed over the years, and every death is lamentable, "things have been better than what they were before."
Gimba Kakanda, Senior Special Assistant to the President of Nigeria, wrote in an opinion piece this past week that claims of "religious war…betray ignorance of the country's internal dynamics."
"While Western media often highlight attacks on churches and Christian communities, the reality is that these terrorists are indiscriminate in their violence," Kakanda wrote. "The real danger lies in media outlets portraying Boko Haram, a group despised by both Muslims and Christians, as representative of Islam."
Responding to Trump's threat of military action on Sunday, Daniel Bwala, an adviser to the Nigerian president, said the country would welcome U.S. help to combat militants under certain conditions.
"We welcome U.S. assistance as long as it recognises our territorial integrity," Bwala told Reuters.
"I am sure by the time these two leaders meet and sit, there would be better outcomes in our joint resolve to fight terrorism," he said, in reference to Trump's criticism of Nigeria as a "disgraced country."
Some Christian groups in Nigeria, however, have called for more to be done to protect members of their faith, as violence has undeniably affected the nation.
Last month, President Archbishop Daniel Okoh of the Christian Association of Nigeria responded to increased attention on his community to say that "many Christian communities in parts of Nigeria, especially in the North, have suffered severe attacks, loss of life, and the destruction of places of worship."
"We therefore renew our call on government and security agencies to take urgent, transparent, and equitable action to end the killings, safeguard vulnerable Christian communities from displacement, and ensure that perpetrators face the full weight of the law. The pain of Christian families torn apart by violence must never be treated as mere statistics," he added in the statement.
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Published: November 03, 2025 at 01:09AM on Source: JAST MAG
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