Destroyed buildings in Offa on December 27, 2025, damage caused by remnants of munitions used in US strikes on militants linked to the Islamic State group in Nigeria. PHOTO: Abiodun Jamiu / AFP / Profimedia
US President Donald Trump has said that more US attacks could follow in Nigeria if Christians are killed in the African country, even though the authorities in Abuja have previously denied that Christians in Nigeria are subject to systematic persecution, reports Reuters.
Trump's statements were made in an interview with The New York Times (NYT), which was published on the website of the American newspaper on Thursday.
The White House leader made these claims when asked about Washington's Christmas Day military bombing of Nigeria. The US military said at the time that it had carried out an attack against Islamic State (ISIS) militants in northwestern Nigeria at the request of the government in Abuja.
Nigeria said at the time that the attack was a “joint operation” targeting “terrorists” and that it “had nothing to do with any particular religion”.
“I wish it had been a single bombing… But if they continue to kill Christians, there will be many strikes,” Trump said in the NYT interview.
When asked about his own Africa adviser who claimed that militants from the Islamic State and the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram kill more Muslims than Christians, Trump replied: “I think Muslims are being killed in Nigeria, too. But the majority are Christians.”
In late October, Trump began warning that Christianity faces an “existential threat” in Nigeria and threatened to intervene militarily in the West African country, which he says is failing to stop violence against Christian communities.
Nigeria's population of more than 230 million people is roughly equally divided between Christians, who predominate in the south, and Muslims, who predominate in the north.
Although Nigeria faces persistent security problems, including violence and kidnappings by Islamist insurgents in the north, the country strongly denies that Christians are subject to systematic persecution.
The government in Abuja has responded to Trump's earlier threats by saying it plans to work with Washington against the militants, while rejecting US language suggesting Christians are in particular danger. Nigerian authorities say the militants have killed as many Muslims as Christians.
