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The American president Donald Trump instructed the Pentagon on Saturday to prepare for a possible military operation in Nigeria.
“If the Nigerian government continues to allow the murder of Christians, the United States will immediately suspend all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and it is highly likely that it will enter that now disgraced country with all weapons in hand, to completely annihilate the Islamic terrorists committing these horrible atrocities,” Trump wrote on social media.
"I hereby instruct our Department of War to prepare for a possible action. If we attack, it will be swift, brutal, and decisive, just as terrorists attack our beloved Christians!" he added.
The announcement came after Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu denied the accusations from the Trump Administration on Friday.
"Freedom and religious tolerance have been and will always be a fundamental principle of our collective identity. Nigeria opposes religious persecution and does not promote it. Nigeria is a country with constitutional guarantees to protect citizens of all religions," said the leader.
On Friday, Trump had brought the Nigerian issue to the forefront, declaring that "Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria" and blaming radical Islamic groups for this threat.
Attacks against Nigerian Christians, who make up half of the country's population, have occurred in recent years amidst a climate of uncertainty beset by radical Islamic groups in the northern part of the country, affecting the Muslim population as well.
In 2022, armed men attacked a Catholic church in southwestern Nigeria during Sunday mass, killing at least 50 people, including women and children.
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