By Uzair Adam
US President Donald Trump has directed the United States Department of War to prepare for what he described as a “possible action” to eliminate Islamic terrorists in Nigeria.
In a post on his Truth Social account on Saturday, Trump cautioned the Nigerian government to urgently address the continued killings of Christians in the country or risk losing all forms of American aid and assistance.
“If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. 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,” Trump wrote.
He added that he had instructed the Department of War to be ready for immediate action, warning that any attack “will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our cherished Christians.”
The statement came barely a day after Trump redesignated Nigeria as a “country of particular concern,” citing what he called a Christian genocide allegedly perpetrated by radical Islamists.
Responding to the development, President Bola Tinubu rejected Trump’s decision, insisting that Nigeria remains a democracy that guarantees freedom of religion and belief as enshrined in its constitution.