US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters upon arriving at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, on October 31, 2025.
Samuel Corum | Getty Images
US President Donald Trump announced Saturday that he has ordered the Pentagon to begin planning for potential military action in Nigeria, amid growing criticism of the government’s failure to curb persecution of Christians in the West African country.
“If the Nigerian government continues to allow Christians to be murdered, there is a good chance that the United States will immediately withdraw aid and assistance to Nigeria and come ‘guns-blazing’ into this now-disgraced country to wipe out once and for all the Islamic terrorists who are committing these horrific atrocities,” Trump wrote on social media. “I hereby direct the War Department to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be as swift, vicious, and sweet as terrorist thugs attacking our beloved Christians!”
The warning of possible military action came early Saturday after Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu pushed back against President Trump, who had announced a day earlier that he would designate the West African country as a “country of particular concern” for its alleged failure to curb persecution of Christians.
In a statement on social media on Saturday, Tinubu said characterizing Nigeria as a religiously intolerant country does not reflect the reality of the nation.
“Religious freedom and tolerance are, and will continue to be, core tenets of our collective identity,” Tinubu said. “Nigeria opposes and does not encourage religious persecution. Nigeria is a country with constitutional guarantees that protect citizens of all faiths.”
President Trump said Friday that “Christianity faces an existential crisis in Nigeria” and that “Islamic extremists are responsible for this genocide.”
President Trump’s comments came weeks after Sen. Ted Cruz asked Congress to designate Africa’s most populous country as a religious freedom violator, alleging “genocide of Christians.”
Nigeria has a population of 220 million people, split almost evenly between Christians and Muslims. The country has long faced insecurity on various fronts, including Boko Haram, an extremist group that seeks to establish a radical interpretation of Islamic law and also targets Muslims it deems not sufficiently Muslim.
The attacks in Nigeria have a variety of motives. These include religious motives targeting both Christians and Muslims, conflicts between farmers and herders over dwindling resources, intercommunal conflicts, separatist groups and ethnic clashes.
Christians are among those targeted, but analysts say most attacks have occurred in the Muslim-majority north of Nigeria, where most of the militants’ victims are Muslims.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Kimyebi Ebienfa reiterated Nigeria’s commitment to protecting citizens of all faiths.
“The Federal Government of Nigeria continues to protect all its citizens, regardless of race, creed or religion,” Ebienfa said in a statement on Saturday. “Like America, Nigeria has no choice but to celebrate its greatest strength: its diversity.”
Nigeria was first placed on the list of countries of special concern by the United States in 2020 over what the State Department called “systematic violations of religious freedom.” The designation was lifted in 2023 because it did not name attacks on Christians and was seen by observers as a way to improve relations ahead of a visit by then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
