US President Donald Trump named Nigeria a “country of particular concern,” citing what he described as a growing threat to Christianity in the nation.
In a statement on Truth Social on Friday, Trump claimed that thousands of Christians have been killed by radical Islamist groups and urged US lawmakers to urgently investigate the situation.
Trump maintained that the United States would not stand by while Christians in Nigeria and other parts of the world face persecution, adding that the United States remains willing to protect Christian populations around the world.
He said: “Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being murdered. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter. I hereby make Nigeria a “COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN”, but that is the least of it.
“When Christians, or any similar group, are massacred as is happening in Nigeria (3,100 versus 4,476 worldwide), something must be done! I ask Congressman Riley Moore, along with Chairman Tom Cole and the House Appropriations Committee, to immediately investigate this matter and report back to me.
“America cannot stand by while such atrocities occur in Nigeria and many other countries. We are ready, willing and able to save our large Christian population around the world!”
His statement follows growing criticism from American politicians and public figures who say Christians in Nigeria face systematic violence.
Recently, American comedian and HBO host Bill Maher accused Islamist groups of carrying out genocide against Christians in the country.
“I’m not a Christian, but they are systematically killing Christians in Nigeria. They have killed over a hundred thousand since 2009. They have burned 18,000 churches. These are the Islamists, Boko Haram. This is much more of an attempted genocide than what is happening in Gaza.
“They are literally trying to wipe out the Christian population of an entire country,” Maher said.
Similarly, US Senator Ted Cruz claimed that Nigerian government officials were “ignoring and even facilitating the mass murder of Christians by Islamist jihadists.”
Cruz also lamented that Christians in the country were being attacked for their faith by terrorist groups and “being forced to submit to sharia law and blasphemy laws throughout Nigeria.”
He said “it is about time to impose real costs on Nigerian officials who facilitate these activities,” adding that he had introduced the Nigerian Religious Freedom Accountability Act to the US Senate to sanction such officials.
Along the same lines, Riley Moore, who represents West Virginia’s 2nd district in the US Congress, wrote to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, urging him to designate Nigeria as a country of particular concern.
Moore also called for a suspension of arms sales and technical support to Nigeria until the government demonstrates its commitment to ending what he described as “a reign of persecution and massacre against Christians.”
However, both the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Nigerian Presidency have dismissed the accusations of Christian genocide.
While CAN described the reports as false narratives spread by foreign agents, the Presidency insisted that there is no religious war in the country.
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