By Rédaction Africanews
There were mixed reactions in Lagos on Monday after US President Donald Trump said he’d ordered the Pentagon to begin planning for potential military action in Nigeria, as he stepped up his allegations that the government is failing to rein in the persecution of Christians in the West African country.
Trump also warned that he “will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria.”
The warning came after Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu earlier on Saturday pushed back on Trump, announcing a day earlier that he was designating the West African country “a country of particular concern” for allegedly failing to rein in the persecution of Christians.
In a social media statement on Saturday, Tinubu said that the characterization of Nigeria as a religiously intolerant country does not reflect the national reality.
“Religious freedom and tolerance have been a core tenet of our collective identity and shall always remain so,” Tinubu said.
“Nigeria opposes religious persecution and does not encourage it. Nigeria is a country with constitutional guarantees to protect citizens of all faiths.”
Trump on Friday said “Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria” and “radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter.”
Trump’s comment came weeks after US Senator Ted Cruz urged Congress to designate Africa’s most populous country as a violator of religious freedom with claims of “Christian mass murder.”
Nigeria’s population of 220 million is split almost equally between Christians and Muslims.
The country has long faced insecurity from various fronts, including the Boko Haram extremist group, which seeks to establish its radical interpretation of Islamic law and has also targeted Muslims it deems not Muslim enough.
Attacks in Nigeria have varying motives.
There are religiously motivated ones targeting both Christians and Muslims, clashes between farmers and herders over dwindling resources, communal rivalries, secessionist groups and ethnic clashes.
While Christians are among those targeted, some analysts say they do not believe it is enough to be tagged genocide.
“I believe that people get killed in the country, both Christians and Muslims, but to frame it as Christian genocide alone is unthinkable,” says Idongesit Essien, a lecturer.
Nigeria was placed on the country of particular concern list by the US for the first time in 2020 over what the State Department called “systematic violations of religious freedom.”
The designation, which did not single out attacks on Christians, was lifted in 2023 in what observers saw as a way to improve ties between the countries ahead of then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit.