7 hours ago
US President Donald Trump warned that Christianity faces an existential threat in Nigeria and announced the country's return to the State Department's watch list for religious persecution.
US President Donald Trump warned that Christianity faces an existential threat in Nigeria
UPDATED: Nov 1, 2025 01:00 IST
US President Donald Trump warned that Christianity faces an existential threat in Nigeria, announcing that the country will be placed on a State Department watch list for countries of particular concern.
Trump made the declaration in a post on Truth Social, saying the scale of violence against Christians in Nigeria demanded urgent US action.
“Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria,” Trump wrote. “Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter. I am hereby making Nigeria a ‘COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN’ — but that is the least of it.”
The President cited alarming casualty numbers – 3,100 Christians killed in Nigeria compared to 4,476 worldwide – and called for an immediate congressional review.
“When Christians, or any such group, are slaughtered like is happening in Nigeria, something must be done,” he continued. “I am asking Congressman Riley Moore, together with Chairman Tom Cole and the House Appropriations Committee, to immediately look into this matter and report back to me.”
Trump added that the US cannot stand by while such atrocities are happening in Nigeria and numerous other countries.
The announcement marks a sharp turn in US foreign policy toward Nigeria under Trump’s second term, signalling renewed emphasis on global religious freedom and protection of Christian minorities.
“We stand ready, willing, and able to save our great Christian population around the world,” the president concluded.
Nigeria, a country of more than 220 million people, is almost evenly divided between Christians and Muslims. For years, it has faced multiple security challenges, including violence by Boko Haram, an extremist group seeking to impose its radical interpretation of Islamic law and known to target both Christians and Muslims it considers insufficiently devout.
According to the Associated Press, Nigeria’s violence stems from a complex mix of causes: religious extremism, farmer-herder clashes over dwindling resources, ethnic and communal rivalries, and separatist movements.
The State Department’s countries of particular concern list typically includes nations where systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom occur. The United States first placed Nigeria on its Country of Particular Concern list in 2020, citing systematic violations of religious freedom.” The designation did not specifically single out attacks on Christians and was lifted in 2023.
- Ends
With input from AP.
Published By:
Akshat Trivedi
Published On:
Nov 1, 2025
Tune In
