Trump Threatens Expanded Military Action in Nigeria Amid Ongoing Violence Against Christians

Sat Jan 10 2026 22:05:08 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

In a recent interview, President Trump indicated that he might order further airstrikes in Nigeria if attacks on Christians persist, raising tensions with the Nigerian government amidst concerns about religious persecution.

U.S. President Donald Trump has warned of potential military escalation in Nigeria if violence against Christians continues. During an interview, Trump suggested that recent airstrikes targeting Islamist militants were a part of a broader effort to protect Christians in the region. However, the Nigerian government rejected the notion that it has failed to safeguard its Christian population, highlighting the complexity of religious violence in the country, where both Christians and Muslims are victims. The situation remains precarious amid ongoing Islamist insurgencies.

US President Donald Trump has warned that he could order more airstrikes on Nigeria if Christians continue to be killed in the West African nation.

In a wide-ranging interview with the New York Times, Trump was asked whether the Christmas Day strikes in Nigeria's northern Sokoto state, targeting Islamist militants, were part of a broader military campaign.

I'd love to make it a one-time strike. But if they continue to kill Christians it will be a many-time strike, he said.

Nigeria's government has rejected Trump's earlier accusations that it is failing to protect Christians from jihadist attacks, saying that Muslims, Christians and those of no faith alike are targeted.

Claims of a genocide against Nigeria's Christians began circulating last year in some right-wing US circles - but organisations monitoring political violence in Nigeria say most victims of the jihadist groups are Muslims.

When questioned about this in the interview, Trump replied: I think that Muslims are being killed also in Nigeria. But it's mostly Christians.

Nigeria's population of more than 230 million people is roughly evenly divided among Christians, who predominate in the south, and Muslims, who are mostly in the north.

For the past 15 years, the north-east of the country has suffered from a devastating Islamist insurgency at the hands of jihadist groups such as Boko Haram and those affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) group, based in Borno state.

The country also faces an array of other complex security issues in different regions, including criminal kidnapping gangs, clashes over land and separatist unrest.

The US's Christmas Day strikes hit two camps run by a jihadist group called Lakurawa in the largely Muslim state of Sokoto. It is still unclear if there were any casualties as neither the US nor Nigerian government has provided figures.

In the wake of the strikes, Nigeria's Foreign Minister said it had been a joint operation and nothing to do with a particular religion. The foreign minister added that the strikes had had the explicit approval of Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu.