Foreign Minister Yusuf Tugar has said Nigeria’s constitution protects against religious persecution, following claims by US President Donald Trump.
Nigeria’s government has rejected US President Donald Trump’s claims of persecution of Christians in the West African country, insisting religious freedom is fully protected in the country’s constitution.
Responding to questions from reporters at a press conference in Berlin on Tuesday, Nigeria’s Foreign Minister Yusuf Tugaa held up a document that read “Nigeria’s constitutional commitment to religious freedom and the rule of law” on the cover.
Recommended stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
“All the answers are there. This is what will guide us,” Thugger said alongside German Foreign Minister Johann Vardepur. “It is impossible for the Nigerian government at any level to support religious persecution in any way.”
Tagger’s comments came after President Trump wrote on social media on Saturday that the United States would cut off all aid to Nigeria if the government “continues to allow the murder of Christians.” Trump added that he had directed the so-called Department of the Army to “prepare for possible actions.”
And on Sunday, President Trump doubled down on the idea, saying the U.S. government could send troops or launch airstrikes. “They are killing Christians in record numbers in Nigeria,” he said. “We’re not going to allow that to happen.”
The threat came after the US president redesignated Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern,” a label the US government gives to countries deemed responsible for serious violations of religious freedom.
Mr. Trump’s claims echo those that have gained attention on the right and among Christian evangelicals in recent months. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, an ally of Mr. Trump, introduced the Nigeria Religious Freedom and Accountability Act of 2025 in September, accusing Nigerian authorities of what he called the “genocide of Christians.” He said the law aims to hold accountable officials who “facilitate jihadist violence and the imposition of blasphemy laws.”
While acknowledging the security concerns, Nigerian officials condemned Trump’s claims, saying people of all faiths, not just Christians, are victims of armed violence. “The characterization of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality,” said Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu, a Muslim from southern Nigeria who is married to a Christian pastor.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, is home to approximately 238 million people. According to the Religious Data Archive Association, about 46% of the population is Muslim, living mainly in the north, and about 46% is Christian, living mainly in the south.
For more than a decade, Boko Haram and other armed groups have clashed in the northeast, forcing millions of people to flee their homes. More than 10,000 people have been killed in the region since Tinubu came to power two years ago on a platform of tightening security, according to Amnesty International.
In the center, there has been an increase in attacks on mainly Christian rural areas by herders from the rival Fulani pastoralist ethnic group, who are mainly Muslim. Attacks there primarily revolve around access to water and pasture.
