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President Donald Trump speaks to members of the press aboard Air Force One as he heads to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland after departing West Palm Beach, Fla., on Nov. 2, 2025. Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images
President Donald Trump said on Nov. 2 that the United States could deploy troops in Nigeria to help stop the killing of Christians by Islamist terrorists in the country.
Aboard Air Force One, Trump was asked by a reporter whether he envisioned U.S. boots on the ground in Nigeria.
“Could be. I envisage a lot of things. They’re killing record numbers of Christians in Nigeria,” he told reporters. “They’re killing the Christians and killing them in very large numbers. We’re not going to allow that to happen.”
Trump said on Truth Social on Nov. 1 that Christianity in Nigeria is facing “an existential threat,” as thousands of the nation’s Christians are being killed by Islamist terrorists. He also decided to designate Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” under the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act.
In a subsequent post that same day, the president warned that he would suspend all U.S. assistance to Nigeria if “the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians.”
Trump also instructed the Department of War to “prepare for possible action” against Islamist terrorists who he said were committing atrocities targeting Christian people in the West African nation.
“If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians! WARNING: THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT BETTER MOVE FAST,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Nov. 1.
U.S. War Secretary Pete Hegseth replied to Trump’s social media post with a “yes, sir,” adding that the Department of War has started preparations for possible action.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu said on Nov. 1 that his country is willing to work with the U.S. government and the international community on the matter, adding that Nigeria is opposed to religious persecution.
“The characterisation 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 said in a post on X.
“Religious freedom and tolerance have been a core tenet of our collective identity and shall always remain so. Nigeria opposes religious persecution and does not encourage it.”
A newspaper vendor pulls a newspaper with an article reporting U.S. President Donald Trump's message to Nigeria over the treatment of Christians, at a newspaper stand in Ojuelegba, Lagos, Nigeria, November 2, 2025. Sodiq Adelakun/Reuters
A recent report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety), a Nigeria-based nongovernmental group, revealed that more than 7,000 Christians have been killed and 7,800 kidnapped in Nigeria during the first seven months of this year. The Epoch Times cannot verify these figures.
Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu attends a meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, on June 22, 2025. Olamikan Gbemiga/AP Photo
Intersociety said that Islamist terrorist groups, including Boko Haram and “Jihadist Fulani bandits,” were responsible for the killings and kidnappings of Christians in Nigeria.
The report revealed that at least 500 Christian religious leaders in Nigeria have been attacked and kidnapped over the past 16 years.
