WASHINGTON (TNND) — On the ground in the African country of Nigeria, there has been an international spotlight, following calls by President Donald Trump to Nigeria’s government to do more to stop the persecution and killing of Christians there.
Last week, the white house decided to redesignate Nigeria as ” a country of particular concern,” a State Department list of countries that are said to violate religious freedom. (TNND)
Last week, the white house decided to redesignate Nigeria as ” a country of particular concern,” a State Department list of countries that are said to violate religious freedom.
He then suggested military action could be on the table.
“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,” he wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Trump was asked on Sunday if he thought the U.S. military would be sent in.
Could be. I mean, a lot of things I envisage a lot of things. They’re killing record numbers of Christians in Nigeria. And they have very bad, you know that that part of the world very bad.
Over the last year, there have been horrifying stories, including of killings of more than 160 people, mostly Christians, in Yelwata.
There were 200 believers that were killed in one evening. Homes were locked and set on fire as people try to escape, they were shot or attacked with machetes. These are men, women and children,” said Ryan Brown, CEO of Open Doors U.S., in an interview with The National News Desk on Monday.
Brown’s organization tracks Christian persecution around the world and released a map for 2025, highlighting the highest levels of overall persecution of Christians around the globe.
While countries like North Korea, Somalia and Yemen sit at the top of the list, Nigeria, at number 7, also has its own troubling distinction.
“In Nigeria in particular, more people have been killed because of their faith in Jesus over the last year than all other places in the globe combined,” Brown said, citing research gathered by his organization. “Many believers are killed, particularly men, while women are often kidnapped and targeted for sexual violence. More believers are killed for their faith in Nigeria than anywhere else in the world. These militants also destroy homes, churches and livelihoods.”
But throughout the country, complexities run deep.
Nigeria is evenly split between Christians and Muslims, both of whom have been targeted and killed in large numbers by violent terror groups like Boko Haram, as well as a branch of ISIS and a group of Fulani Herdsmen.
Many of them have been forced off their land because of climate change, with several reports of them driving Christian farmers off theirs, using violence.
Escalating tensions are prompting some Nigerian leaders to urge world leaders *not* to simplify the situation.
In an interview with CNN, World Trade Organization Chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala cautioned, “The situation is very difficult and needs careful thought. It has religious issues involved in it. It has resource issues involved in it. It has different complexities.”
In addition to military action, Trump also threatened to withhold aid to the country.
Some critics argue the president is singling out Nigeria in particular because of its government’s vocal support for Palestinians in Gaza during this year’s United Nations General Assembly meeting.
During the speech, Kashim Shettima, Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, said:
“We do not believe that the sanctity of human life should be trapped in the corridors of endless debate. That is why we say, without stuttering and without doubt, that a two-state solution remains the most dignified path to lasting peace for the people of Palestine.
The people of Palestine are not collateral damage in a civilization searching for order. They are human beings, equal in worth, entitled to the same freedoms and dignities that the rest of us take for granted.
