U.S. President Donald Trump has said the United States could carry out additional military strikes in Nigeria if Christians continue to be killed, reviving a dispute with Abuja over whether Nigeria’s insecurity amounts to targeted religious persecution.
Trump made the remarks in an interview with The New York Times, according to a Reuters report, weeks after the United States conducted a rare Christmas Day strike in Sokoto State that Washington said hit Islamic State-linked targets at Nigeria’s request. Nigeria has described the action as a joint operation against “terrorists,” not a religion-based intervention.
Asked about assessments that jihadist groups were killing more Muslims than Christians, Trump replied that Muslims were being killed too, “but it’s mostly Christians,” Reuters reported. Nigeria — Africa’s most populous country — is broadly divided between a mainly Muslim north and a mainly Christian south, with significant mixed communities across the Middle Belt.
Nigeria’s government has repeatedly rejected claims of systematic Christian persecution, arguing that armed groups and criminal gangs attack communities largely along geographic and security fault lines rather than through a centrally directed religious campaign, and that Muslims as well as Christians have been killed in mass-casualty incidents. The African Union Commission chair previously dismissed Trump’s “genocide” framing, saying there was no genocide in northern Nigeria.
The U.S. strike itself has remained politically sensitive in Abuja. Reuters reported the Dec. 25 operation hit two Islamic State-linked camps and relied on extensive intelligence gathering, while Nigerian officials later urged civilians to avoid handling debris from munitions. Separate reporting has raised questions about targeting and the strike’s effects on the ground, underscoring the fog that often surrounds cross-border counterterror actions.
The warning of “more strikes” comes amid broader U.S. pressure on Nigeria tied to religious-freedom politics. In late October, the Trump administration designated Nigeria a “country of particular concern” under U.S. religious freedom law — a move that can open a pathway to sanctions — though Nigerian officials say the label misrepresents the nature of the violence.
Meanwhile, security cooperation has been expanding in practice: Reuters reported the U.S. has conducted intelligence-gathering flights over parts of Nigeria since late November and Nigeria has agreed to intelligence support against militants.
