President Donald Trump mentioned Saturday he has ordered the Defense Department to put together for possible army motion in Nigeria as he continues to accuse the nation of violence towards Christians — an accusation Nigeria has repeatedly denied.
In a social media put up criticizing what he known as the “mass slaughter” of Christians in the nation, Trump wrote the United States would “immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria” and warned the federal government there to “move fast.”
In the prolonged message, Trump mentioned that the US “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.”
“I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action,” Trump wrote. “If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians! WARNING: THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT BETTER MOVE FAST!”
The announcement comes after Trump accused Nigeria of non secular freedom violations on Friday, claiming that “Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria” and designating the nation as a “Country of Particular Concern” underneath the International Religious Freedom Act. The label is a suggestion that his administration has discovered that Nigeria has engaged or tolerated “systematic, ongoing, (and) egregious violations of religious freedom.”
In a social media put up after the designation, however earlier than Trump’s point out of the army, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu wrote, “The characterisation 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 added that Nigeria is “working with the United States government and the international community to deepen understanding and cooperation on protection of communities of all faiths.”
Tinubu’s press secretary, responding to a social media put up from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemning the “slaughter of thousands of Christians” known as the characterization “a gross exaggeration of the Nigerian situation,” including that “Christians, Muslims, churches and mosques are attacked randomly.”
“What our country requires from America is military support to fight these violent extremists in some states of our country, not designation as a nation of particular concern,” mentioned Bayo Onanuga.
Both Christians and Muslims have been victims of assaults by radical Islamists in Nigeria. The violence in the nation is pushed by various components: Some incidents are religiously motivated and have an effect on each teams, whereas others come up from disputes between farmers and herders over restricted sources, in addition to communal and ethnic tensions.
Although Christians are amongst these focused, native studies point out that almost all victims are Muslims residing in Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim north.
Spokespersons for the White House and Tinubu’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.