Sunday, November 23, 2025 - US President, Donald Trump escalated his criticism of Nigeria on Friday night, November 21, publicly branding the country “a disgrace” as he renewed accusations that the government is failing to protect Christians from extremist violence.
Speaking on a conservative radio program, Trump repeated his
threat to take potential military action against Islamist militants in Nigeria
if the government does not take "do more" to stop attacks on
Christian communities.
“Nigeria is a disgrace. The whole thing is a disgrace,” Trump
said. “They’re killing people by the thousands. It’s a genocide, and I’m really
angry about it. And we pay, you know, we give a lot of subsidies to Nigeria.
We’re going to end up stopping.”
Trump’s comments reinforce the administration’s narrative
that Christians in Nigeria are being uniquely targeted, a claim that has gained
significant traction in right-wing circles in the US. This perspective is
applied despite the country's complex history of ethnoreligious conflict in
which both Christians and Muslims have suffered mass casualties from various
armed groups and terrorists.
The President’s broadcast came just one day after US Defence
Secretary Pete Hegseth met with Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Nuhu
Ribadu, at the Pentagon. The high-level meeting was aimed at reinforcing the
Trump administration’s claim that Christians in Nigeria are facing “horrific
violence.”
Hegseth posted on X that under President Trump’s leadership,
the Defence Department (referred to by the administration as the “Department of
War” or DOW) is “working aggressively with Nigeria to end the persecution of
Christians by jihadist terrorists.”
A subsequent statement from the Defence Department confirmed
that Hegseth and Ribadu discussed “tangible progress” on curbing violence
against Christians and combating jihadist groups operating in West Africa.
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