WEST PALM BEACH, United States, 2 November (H.S.): In a significant escalation of rhetoric, US President Donald Trump threatened military intervention in Nigeria on Saturday, accusing the West African nation of failing to stop what he termed the killing of Christians by Islamists. The threat, posted on his Truth Social platform, included an immediate halt to all U.S. aid to the country.On Saturday, Trump stated that he had asked the Pentagon to develop a potential plan of attack. If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the USA 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 who are committing these horrible atrocities, the post read.

He added that any potential U.S. attack would be fast, vicious, and sweet and warned the Nigerian government to BETTER MOVE FAST!. This statement came one day after Trump's administration re-designated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for violations of religious freedom.

The designation implies the U.S. government believes Nigeria has engaged in or tolerated systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.Trump has claimed, without providing evidence, that thousands of Christians in Nigeria are being killed by Radical Islamists.

These claims have been echoed by some conservative American politicians and advocacy groups who allege that Christians in Nigeria are facing a genocide.

In response, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu rejected the allegations of religious intolerance. The characterisation of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality, Tinubu posted on X (formerly Twitter).

He affirmed that religious freedom is a core tenet of the nation's identity.Experts note that Nigeria is grappling with multiple complex security crises that have affected people of all faiths. The long-running Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast has killed over 40,000 people, both Christian and Muslim, since 2009.

Additionally, conflicts in central Nigeria between nomadic herders, who are often Muslim, and sedentary farmers, who are largely Christian, are frequently portrayed as religious but are primarily driven by disputes over land and resources.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar