U.S. President Donald Trump has directed the country’s Department of War to prepare for possible military action aimed at eliminating Islamic terrorists in Nigeria.
In a post on his Truth Social handle on Saturday, Trump warned the Nigerian government to act swiftly to stop what he described as the “killing of Christians” in the country.
He said the U.S. might suspend all forms of aid and assistance to Nigeria if the situation persisted.
“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 committing these horrible atrocities,” he said.
Trump further stated that he had instructed the Department of War to prepare for “possible action,” adding that any strike would be “fast, vicious, and sweet.”
The statement comes a day after the U.S. government under Trump redesignated Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) following allegations of widespread persecution and killings of Christians.
The U.S. president accused radical Islamists of being behind what he termed the “mass slaughter” of Christians in parts of Nigeria.
Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu has rejected the redesignation, describing it as a misrepresentation of Nigeria’s religious reality.
Tinubu, in a statement on Saturday, said Nigeria remains a democracy founded on constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion and belief for all citizens.
