On Oct. 31, President Donald Trump added Nigeria to the list of “Countries of Particular Concern” for the Office of International Religious Freedom under the Department of State.
According to the department’s website, countries are added to the list if they display “systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom,” including torture, unreasonable detention, forced disappearance, or the “flagrant denial of life, liberty, or security of persons.” Nigeria had previously been added to the list during the first Trump administration but was removed by former President Joe Biden.
Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, “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.” If these events come to pass, it would mark the first time the U.S. has performed military action in another country for explicitly stated religious reasons.
Rep. Riley Moore, a West Virginia Republican, is leading an official investigation into the matter. He stated that while economic sanctions are possible, “All options are on the table here for this, even kinetic military action.”
In a 2023 report, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, a Nigeria-based non-governmental organization, stated that over 100,000 Christians and 60,000 “moderate Muslims” had been killed in Nigeria since 2009. This report was cited by Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and television host Bill Maher in condemnations of Nigeria. However, the BBC noted that the NGO did not provide an itemized list of its sources for figures in the report, casting some doubt upon its conclusions.
The U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, another NGO, found that 53,000 civilians have been killed in Nigeria since 2009 and 317 Christians were killed in attacks specifically targeting Christians between 2020 and 2025. Open Doors, a non-denominational Christian mission that supports persecuted Christians, claimed 3,100 Christians have been killed from October 2023 to October 2024 alone, a figure cited by President Trump in another Truth Social post.
Nigeria has experienced violence between Christians and Muslims since before it became independent in 1960. Nigeria has had a stable democratic government since 1999, following a long series of military coups and short-lived democratic states. Riots often occurred following the election or nomination of members of a faith to government positions. According to the CIA, Nigeria is 53.5% Muslim and 45.9% Christian, with the Muslim population projected to increase.
Since 2009, Islamic militant group Boko Haram, and later the Islamic State group, have perpetuated an insurgency in Nigeria. While the group controlled the most territory in the mid-2010s, the insurgency is still active in the northeastern parts of the nation, and frequently orchestrates suicide bombings and attacks targeting civilians. “There is no Christian genocide in Nigeria…we acknowledge the fact that there are killings that have taken place in Nigeria, but those killings were not restricted to Christians alone…The majority is not the Christian population,” a spokesman for Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in response to Trump’s allegations.
Trump’s condemnation of Nigeria comes shortly after similar accusations of genocide towards South Africa, which he believes is carrying out a genocide against the Afrikaner ethnic group. Afrikaners are descended from Dutch, German, and French colonists, and controlled South Africa with apartheid policies from 1948 until the nation’s first universally franchised elections in 1994. The South African government has denied these allegations, including parties that represent Afrikaners and other groups of white people.
The Trump administration has taken action against South Africa by refusing to attend the G20 summit, hosted by South Africa, and raising refugee limits for South Africans. It stands to reason that similar measures may be enacted towards Nigeria in the future.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.