Nigeria calls for meeting with Trump after threat of military action

(Patria) - Nigeria on Sunday proposed a meeting between its President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his American counterpart Donald Trump, after the US leader threatened military action over what he described as a threat to Nigerian Christians by extremists, AFP reported.

Trump said on social media on Saturday that he had asked the Pentagon to plan a possible attack plan in Nigeria, a day after warning that Christianity is “facing an existential threat” in Africa’s most populous country.

Nigeria, which is almost equally divided between a Muslim-majority north and a predominantly Christian south, is embroiled in numerous conflicts that experts say have killed both Christians and Muslims indiscriminately.
In his post, Trump said that if Nigeria does not stop the killings, the United States will attack and “it will be swift, brutal, and sweet, just as the terrorist thugs are attacking our BELOVED Christians.”

Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s spokesperson, Daniel Bwala, told AFP on Sunday that “Nigeria is a partner of the US in the global fight against terrorism. When leaders meet, there will be better outcomes.”

“Nigeria welcomes the support of the US in the fight against terrorism as long as it respects our territorial integrity,” he said. “We do not see (Trump’s social media post) in a literal sense,” he said.

“We know Donald Trump has his own communication style,” he said, suggesting that the post was a way to “force the two leaders to meet so they can agree on a common front to fight their insecurity.”

Earlier, Bwala suggested in a post on X that the two leaders could meet soon.

“As for the differences in whether terrorists in Nigeria target only Christians or actually all faiths and no faith, the differences, if any, will be addressed and resolved by the two leaders when they meet in the coming days, either at the State House or the White House.”

Bwala, who spoke by phone from Washington, declined to provide details about any potential meeting.

Trump said on Friday, without evidence, that “thousands of Christians are being killed” and “radical Islamic terrorists are responsible for this carnage.”

Nigeria has denied that Christians have been targeted by extremist attacks more than other faiths.

“The characterization of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality,” Tinubu said on social media on Saturday.