President Donald Trump of the United States has ordered the US Defence Department to prepare for a possible military operation in Nigeria
The US president’s directive came hours after Nigerian President Bola Tinubu reacted to his earlier allegation
Trump has earlier alleged that Nigeria has become religiously intolerant and that Christianity is under threat
Donald Trump, the president of the United States, has directed the Defense Department to prepare for potential military action in Nigeria if the government “continues to allow the killing of Christians.”
Trump also disclosed that the US government will immediately stop all assistance and aid to Nigeria. The US president made the claim on Saturday, November 1.
According to Reuters, Trump maintained that the U.S may “very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ with the aim of completely wiping out the Islamic terrorists, whom he said have been committing the atrocities.
This came hours after President Tinubu personally reacted to the allegation of Trump that Nigeria was now religiously intolerant and named the nation among the “countries of particular concern”.
Trump, on Friday, October 31, raised the allegation against Nigeria, claiming that Christians are facing an “existential threat” in the West African country. He alleged that thousands of Christians are being killed in the country by some “radical Islamist”.
Reacting to the allegation, President Tinubu, in a social media post on Saturday, November 1, reminded the US president that Nigeria is a democratic nation that is being guided by the constitution, which protects and guarantees religious liberty for all its people.
His statement reads in part: “Nigeria stands firmly as a democracy governed by constitutional guarantees of religious liberty.”
Tinubu explained that his administration has actively engaged Christian and Muslim leaders across the country and would not relent in addressing the security challenges of the country, which affect people of all faiths in Nigeria.
The Nigerian president then rejected Trump’s claim that the country encourages religious persecution and stressed that Nigeria’s diversity remains its pillar of national unity.
The CPC is referring to a country designated by the United States Secretary of State (under the delegated authority from the president), which is involved in systemic severe violations of religious freedom under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998 (H.R. 2431) and its amendment of 1999 (Public Law 106-55).
For over a decade, Nigeria has been confronted with the challenges of terrorism. The insecurity has stretched to banditry and kidnapping, beyond the northeast, where the Boko Haram terrorists first started their operation.
