United States President, Mr. Donald Trump, has doubled down on his claim that there is Christian genocide in Nigeria, describing the country as a disgrace and accusing the federal government of failure to protect the citizens.
The US President made the remarks on Fox News Radio’s ‘The Brian Kilmeade Show’ on Friday night.
This is just as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called on the federal government to take decisive action against the perpetrators of the attacks on Christian communities.
In the same vein, United States Congressman, Riley Moore, has called on the federal government to urgently confront armed groups in the Middle Belt following the kidnapping of more than 300 children and 12 teachers from St Mary’s Catholic School in Niger State on Friday.
Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu has received security briefing from the Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Mr Oluwatosin Ajayi and restated his commitment to eliminating terrorists and bandits in the country.
Tinubu also insisted that insecurity remains the most troubling challenge facing Nigeria, especially the Northern region.
Trump had, on November 1, threatened military action in Nigeria over an alleged persecution of Christians.
The US president had earlier, in a message on social media, acknowledged the atrocities that Christians in Nigeria faced daily and accused radical Islamists of being responsible for the mass slaughter of Christians.
He also declared Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern (CPC).
But the Nigerian government rejected the Christian genocide claim, insisting that there is no religious persecution in the country.
During his first tenure, Trump had declared Nigeria a CPC, but President Joe Biden lifted the CPC designation in 2021.
But despite the pushback by the Nigerian government, Trump doubled down on his attacks on Nigeria on Friday, accusing the country of failing to protect Christians.
The US President made the remarks on Fox News Radio’s ‘The Brian Kilmeade Show’, said: I think Nigeria is a disgrace. The whole thing is a disgrace.
“They’re killing people by the thousands. It’s a genocide. And I’m furious about it.”
“And we pay, you know, we give a lot of subsidy to Nigeria, which we’re going to end up stopping.
“The government’s done nothing. They are very ineffective. They’re killing Christians at will. And you know, until I got involved in it two weeks ago, nobody even talked about it,” he added.
Trump’s comments came a few hours after a high-level delegation of Nigerian security leaders, led by the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, met with some American government officials, including the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to discuss ways to stop violence in Nigeria.
In an update provided by the Special Assistant to the Secretary of War on Public Affairs and Senior Advisor, Sean Parnell, both leaders discussed ways to make tangible progress on stopping violence against Christians in Nigeria and combating West African jihadist terrorist groups.
“Secretary Hegseth emphasised the need for Nigeria to demonstrate commitment and take both urgent and enduring action to stop violence against Christians and conveyed the Department’s desire to work by, with, and through Nigeria to deter and degrade terrorists that threaten the United States.”
Ejiofor Alike, Adedayo Akinwale
About the Author
