President Trump threatened to cease all help to Nigeria and has instructed the Pentagon to “put together for doable motion” within the West African nation, accusing the nation’s authorities of allegedly failing to rein within the persecution of Christians.
In a put up on Fact Social on Saturday, Mr. Trump accused the Nigerian authorities for a second-straight day of not doing sufficient to forestall the killings of Christians. He threatened that the U.S. “might very effectively go into that now disgraced nation, ‘guns-a-blazing’ to fully wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who’re committing these horrible atrocities.”
“If we assault, it is going to be quick, vicious and candy, similar to the terrorist thugs assault our CHERISHED Christians! WARNING: THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT BETTER MOVE FAST!” Mr. Trump wrote.
The Nigerian authorities has vehemently rejected the claims, and analysts say that whereas Christians are amongst these focused, nearly all of victims of armed teams are Muslims in Nigeria’s Muslim-majority north, the place most assaults happen.
Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu mentioned Saturday on social media that the characterization of Nigeria as a religiously illiberal nation doesn’t replicate the nationwide actuality.
“Non secular freedom and tolerance have been a core tenet of our collective id and shall all the time stay so,” Tinubu mentioned. “Nigeria opposes non secular persecution and doesn’t encourage it. Nigeria is a rustic with constitutional ensures to guard residents of all faiths.”
The warning of doable army motion follows an announcement on Friday that he would designate Nigeria “a rustic of explicit concern” because it pertains to non secular freedom, a transfer that had been pushed by some U.S. lawmakers.
The designation doesn’t essentially imply that sanctions, which might embody a ban on all non-humanitarian help, will likely be imposed, however it’s one step forward of that.
“Christianity is going through an existential menace in Nigeria,” Mr. Trump mentioned in a social media put up. “Radical Islamists are answerable for this mass slaughter. I’m hereby making Nigeria a ‘COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN.'”
Mr. Trump mentioned he could be asking a number of U.S. lawmakers to look into the matter and report again on what the response to the designation ought to be.
“The US can not stand by whereas such atrocities are taking place in Nigeria, and quite a few different International locations. We stand prepared, keen, and capable of save our Nice Christian inhabitants across the World!” Mr. Trump mentioned.
Designating a “nation of explicit concern” underneath the 1998 Worldwide Non secular Freedom Act is an government prerogative that usually follows suggestions from each the congressionally mandated U.S. Fee on Worldwide Non secular Freedom and the State Division.
The State Division normally releases its annual Report on Worldwide Non secular Freedom within the spring, however has not but achieved so this yr. The report might or might not embody “explicit concern” designations, which could be achieved at any time. And, such designations, which authorize U.S. penalties, don’t essentially impose sanctions.
The State Division’s most up-to-date non secular freedom stories cowl 2023 and have been launched final yr underneath the Biden administration. These stories, like others on broader human rights and human trafficking, cowl the earlier calendar yr and are sometimes late in being submitted.
The designation comes after Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas has been attempting to rally fellow evangelical Christians to induce Congress to designate Nigeria as a violator of spiritual freedom with claims of “Christian mass homicide.”
Nigeria was first positioned on the “nation of explicit concern” checklist by the U.S. in 2020 in what the State Division referred to as “systematic violations of spiritual freedom.” However the designation didn’t single out assaults on Christians. The designation was lifted in 2023 in what many noticed as a method to enhance ties between the international locations forward of a go to by then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
