Abuja [Nigeria], November 3 (ANI): Nigeria has said it would welcome assistance from the United States in combating Islamist insurgents, provided that its territorial integrity is respected, following remarks by US President Donald Trump threatening possible military action over the alleged persecution of Christians, Reuters reported.
Daniel Bwala, an adviser to Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, told Reuters on Sunday that Nigeria remains open to cooperation with Washington in the fight against terrorism, downplaying tensions between the two countries. He clarified that the West African nation does not interpret Trump’s comments literally.
“We welcome US assistance as long as it recognises our territorial integrity,” Bwala said, as quoted by Reuters. “I am sure by the time these two leaders meet and sit, there would be better outcomes in our joint resolve to fight terrorism,” he added. “We don’t take it literally, because we know Donald Trump thinks well of Nigeria,” he further stated.
Bwala’s remarks followed Trump’s warning that Washington would halt all aid to Nigeria if the government failed to stop the killings of Christians. Trump also threatened that the United States could intervene militarily, saying the US might go in “guns-a-blazing” if attacks by Islamist extremists continued, calling Nigeria a “disgraced country.”
“If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
The US President further instructed the Department of War to prepare for possible military action, warning that any strike would be “fast, vicious, and sweet,” and urged the Nigerian government to “move fast.”
“I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. 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 wrote.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, has battled Islamist insurgent groups such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) for more than 15 years. The insurgency, primarily concentrated in the northeast, has claimed thousands of lives and displaced millions.
Bwala emphasised that the Nigerian government does not discriminate based on religion or ethnicity in its security operations. “Nigeria does not discriminate against any tribe or religion in the fight against insecurity. There is no Christian genocide,” he said.
Earlier, Trump had described Nigeria as a “country of particular concern,” claiming that Christianity faces an “existential threat” there and blaming “radical Islamists” for persecuting the Christian minority. He also directed two federal lawmakers, Riley Moore and Tom Cole, to investigate the issue.
However, Nigerian authorities have rejected these allegations. Information Minister Mohammed Idris told Fox News that claims of mass persecution were “very misleading,” dismissing reports suggesting that tens of thousands of Christians had been killed. (ANI)
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