President Trump on Saturday threatened Nigeria with potential military action and said the United States might cut off aid, accusing the West African country’s government of failing to protect
Mr. Trump said in a post on social media that he was instructing the Pentagon “to prepare for possible action” to wipe out “Islamic Terrorists” in the country. “If we attack,” he wrote, “it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians!”
Later on Saturday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth responded to the president’s post with: “Yes sir.” The Pentagon, he said, was “preparing for action.”
“The killing of innocent Christians in Nigeria — and anywhere — must end immediately,” he said, adding, “Either the Nigerian Government protects Christians, or we will kill the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.”
The announcements came a day after Mr. Trump said he would designate Nigeria a country of particular concern, a label given by the government for nations “engaged in severe violations of religious freedom.” He claimed on social media on Friday that “Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria,” adding that thousands of Christians were facing targeted violence — a claim made by some evangelical groups and U.S. lawmakers.
Nigeria has denied the accusations, and its president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Saturday defended the country’s protection of religious groups, before Mr. Trump’s threat.
The characterization of Nigeria “as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality, nor does it take into consideration the consistent and sincere efforts of the government to safeguard freedom of religion and beliefs for all Nigerians,” he said in a statement, responding to Mr. Trump’s announcement on Friday.
Mr. Trump’s threat of military action faces major challenges. The United States withdrew its forces last year from Niger, to Nigeria’s north, and airstrikes would most likely seek to target small groups scattered across a large area. Effective military action against these groups, analysts say, is likely to require assistance from the Nigerian military and government — which Mr. Trump also threatened to cut off from assistance.
Around 220 million people live in Nigeria, and parts of the country have long suffered violence at the hands of extremist groups, including Boko Haram, an Islamist terror group that has attacked Christians and Muslims it does not consider faithful enough.
But there are also secessionists in the south, criminal groups known for kidnappings in the northwest and other violent groups with their own motives.
Extremist violence in the country “affects large numbers of Christians and Muslims in several states across Nigeria,” the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom found in 2024.
Mr. Trump has already targeted American aid work around the world, working to dismantle the U.S.
Agency for International Development, which has long been central to distributing foreign aid. Nigeria has been a major recipient of U.S. global health funding, relying on it for about 21 percent of its national health budget.
Ruth Maclean, Eric Schmitt and Helene Cooper contributed reporting.
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