Washington claims the strike was carried out at the request of the Nigerian government
President Bola Tinubu rejects the framing of the country’s violence in terms of religious persecution
Nigeria’s population is almost equally divided between Chris
US strikes on Nigeria’s Islamic targets are no surprise, coming after months of warnings from President Donald Trump over attacks on Christians in the oil-rich African country. The action is more a signal to Trump’s Christian base and comes at a time when his popularity ratings are under pressure. Christian groups have long lobbied Washington for concrete action against Islamists that have targeted Christians across Nigeria. This attempt to save the Christians of Nigeria will resonate well with the President’s evangelical base at home. The truth however is that Muslims have also been hit by Islamists.
Washington said the action was carried out at the request of the Nigerian government, a claim backed by Abuja. Nigeria’s Foreign Ministry confirmed what it described as “precision hits on terrorist targets,” stressing that the government’s guiding principle was the protection of all citizens, irrespective of faith.
President Bola Tinubu’s government and many independent observers in Nigeria reject the framing of the country’s violence in terms of religious persecution. Nigeria’s population is almost equally divided between Christians and Muslims, with a small percentage following other religions. The government has pointed out that all citizens and not just Christians are targets of terror groups. However, church leaders in the US and Europe project this as anti-Christian and want the flock to be protected.
White evangelical Protestants continue to be among the staunchest of President Trump’s supporters. The religious right sees him as the protector of Christians. In an earlier Easter post on Truth Social, Trump had vowed to make America “more religious than it has ever been before!!!”
“As a pastor, obviously, that is music to my ears,” said Lahmeyer, the founder of Pastors for Trump that helped mobilise Christians in the 2024 presidential elections. “He has moved the needle for the Christian agenda unlike anyone else, especially in modern times,” Lahmeyer was quoted in the American press as saying.
Soon after Trump was shot at during an election rally on July 13 in Pennsylvania, he made good use of the incident to project himself as a president for a larger Christian cause. He had been chosen by God to protect American values, which included promoting faith. The religious righ has traditionally supported Republican candidates, but during Trump’s campaign churchgoers were mobilised by pastors and voted in massive numbers for him. “Many people have told me that God spared my life for a reason, and that reason was to save our country and to restore America to greatness.” Some cast the election in an apocalyptic light and likened Trump to a Biblical figure.
Equally telling were the limits of the operation. The strikes were confined to north-western Sokoto State, underscoring that the intervention was calibrated to send a political message and offer tactical support rather than signal a deeper US military engagement in Nigeria’s complex internal conflict.
The attacks mark the first by US forces in Nigeria under Trump and come after the President had sharply criticised the African nation on his social media posts through October and November. He claimed that Christians in Nigeria faced an “existential threat” that amounted to “genocide” amid Nigeria’s myriad armed conflicts, and had threatened to send troops in with “guns blazing” to protect Christians.
While more targeted attacks on IS camps may follow, the US is not about to get involved in Nigeria’s internal conflict. These attacks, preparations for which had begun in November with reconnaissance flights to gather information, were majorly influenced by church leaders who had lobbied the White House for action against Islamic groups. Nigeria’s foreign ministry said the strike was carried out as part of ongoing security co-operation with the United States, involving intelligence sharing and strategic co-ordination to target militant groups.
Trump has pleased his evangelical supporters with the strikes and declared on his social media: “Under my leadership, our country will not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper. May God Bless our Military, and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues.”
