President Trump said on Sunday that there is a possibility of U.S. boots on the ground or airstrikes in Nigeria after he told the Department of Defense over the weekend to “prepare for possible action” in the country amid alleged attacks on Christians.
“Could be,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One when asked whether he envisioned the scenario.
“They’re killing record numbers of Christians in Nigeria,” he continued, alleging that killings of Christians were taking place in “very large numbers.”
“We’re not going to allow that to happen,” he said.
The president said in a Truth Social post on Saturday that he was instructing the Department of Defense to prepare for possible action in Nigeria.
“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 on the platform.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth responded to Trump, writing “Yes sir,” on the social platform X.
“The killing of innocent Christians in Nigeria — and anywhere — must end immediately,” Hegseth wrote. “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.”
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu said Saturday his government is committed to working with the United States.
“The characterization of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality, nor does it take into consideration the consistent and sincere efforts of the government to safeguard freedom of religion and beliefs for all Nigerians,” Tinubu wrote on X. “Religious freedom and tolerance have been a core tenet of our collective identity and shall always remain so.”
