By Semafor Africa
Photos: YouTube Screenshots
Nigeria said it would “welcome US assistance” in combating Islamic insurgents if Washington respected its “territorial integrity,” a response to President Donald Trump’s threats of military action over alleged Christian persecution in the West African country.
Daniel Bwala, an adviser to Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, made the comments to Reuters after Trump on Saturday said he had instructed his Defense Department to prepare for military action in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, if Abuja did not take action to stop what he claims are the killing of “very large numbers” of Christians in the country — without providing any more details.
“I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The unprecedented comments from the US president come after weeks of the “Christian killings” in Nigeria narrative picking up steam, as reported previously by Semafor, making its way from fringe right-wing conservative Christian media circles to the Senate and eventually the White House.
Tinubu pushed back over the weekend, posting on social media that “the characterization of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality.”
