The United States Defence Secretary, Pete Hegseth, has said that the U.S. Department of War is “preparing for action” in Nigeria, following President Donald Trump’s recent directive to confront terrorist groups allegedly targeting Christians in the country.
Hegseth made the announcement in a post on X (formerly Twitter), on Saturday night after President Trump stated that the United States would suspend all foreign aid to Nigeria and deploy troops to “completely wipe out the Islamic terrorists” responsible for the ongoing violence.
“The killing of innocent Christians in Nigeria — and anywhere — must end immediately.
“The Department of War is preparing for action. Either the Nigerian Government protects Christians, or we will kill the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities,” Mr Hegseth wrote.
First Daily reported that Trump in his statement accused the Islamic terrorists of genocide against Christians.
The federal government earlier denied allegations of Christian genocide in Nigeria, following Mr Trump’s claim that Christianity faces an existential threat in the country and his declaration of Nigeria as a ‘Country of Particular Concern.’
President Bola Tinubu pointed out that such portrayals made by Trump do not reflect the country’s reality.
He also said that the country strictly upholds the constitutional guarantees of religious liberty and does not encourage religious intolerance.
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“Religious freedom and tolerance have been a core tenet of our collective identity and shall always remain so,” he said
The Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also earlier stated that Nigeria is committed to tackling the violent extremism “fueled by special interests who have helped drive such decay and division in countries across the intersecting West African and Sahel regions.”
Meanwhile, the designation of Nigeria as a country of particular concern followed months of campaigns and demands by some Republican lawmakers for the US to sanction Nigeria for allowing the “persecution of Christians.”
The officials had also falsely accused the federal government of facilitating this anti-Christian crusade in an attempt to rid the country of Christians.