United States President, Donald Trump, on Sunday, reiterated his threat of a military operation in Nigeria over the reported killings of Christians, saying he has instructed the Pentagon to prepare potential plans for action.
Speaking to an AFP correspondent aboard Air Force One, Trump said all options were on the table, including a possible ground offensive or air strikes.
“Could be, I mean, a lot of things — I envisage a lot of things,” Trump said when asked if he was considering deploying US troops or launching air attacks in Nigeria.
“They’re killing the Christians and killing them in very large numbers. We’re not going to allow that to happen,” he added.
The comments came a day after Trump made an explosive post on his Truth Social platform, where he said he had asked the Pentagon to “map out a possible plan of attack” in Nigeria, warning that Christianity was “facing an existential threat” in Africa’s most populous nation.
“If Nigeria does not stem the killings, the United States will attack, and it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our cherished Christians,” Trump wrote.
The threat sparked diplomatic concern in Abuja, where the Nigerian presidency called for dialogue rather than confrontation.
Presidential spokesman Daniel Bwala told AFP on Sunday that Nigeria “remains a US partner in the global fight against terrorism” and welcomed discussions to strengthen cooperation.
“Nigeria welcomes US support to fight terrorism as long as it respects our territorial integrity,” Bwala said. “We do not see (Trump’s social media post) in the literal sense. We know that Donald Trump has his own style of communication,” he added, suggesting the post was meant to “force a sit-down between the two leaders so they can iron out a common front to fight insecurity.”
Bwala, speaking from Washington D.C., said the two leaders could meet soon to discuss the matter.
“As for the differences as to whether terrorists in Nigeria target only Christians or in fact all faiths and no faiths, the differences, if they exist, would be discussed and resolved by the two leaders when they meet in the coming days, either in State House or White House,” he said.
Recall that Trump had earlier claimed in a separate post on Friday that “thousands of Christians are being killed” in Nigeria by “radical Islamists.”
However, the Nigerian government rejected the claim, insisting that the country’s security challenges are not defined by religion.
“The characterisation of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality,” President Bola Ahmed Tinubu stated on social media Saturday.
