The Nigerian government has dismissed claims made by US President Donald Trump about the persecution of Christians in the West African nation, insisting that religious freedom is fully protected under the country’s constitution.
Responding to a reporter’s question at a news conference in Berlin on Tuesday, Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar held up a document whose cover read “Nigeria’s Constitutional Commitment to Religious Freedom and Rule of Law”.
“All the answers are in there. This is what guides us,” Tuggar said, speaking alongside Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul. “It’s impossible for there to be religious persecution that can be supported in any way, shape or form by the government of Nigeria at any level.”
Tuggar’s comments come after Trump wrote on social media on Saturday that if the Nigerian government “continues to allow the killing of Christians”, the US would stop all aid to the country. Trump added that he had instructed the so-called Department of War “to prepare for possible action”.
And on Sunday, Trump doubled down, saying Washington could deploy troops or conduct air strikes. “They are killing a record number of Christians in Nigeria,” he said. “We are not gonna allow that to happen.”
The threats came after the US president had redesignated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern – a label the US government gives to countries seen as responsible for severe violations of religious freedom.
Trump’s assertions echo claims that have gained traction among right-wing and Christian evangelical circles in the past months. US Senator Ted Cruz, a Trump ally, blamed Nigerian officials for what he called “Christian massacres” and introduced in September the Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act of 2025, which, he said, aims to hold officials who “facilitate Islamic Jihadist violence and the imposition of blasphemy laws” accountable.
While admitting a problem with security issues, Nigerian officials rebuked Trump’s claims, saying that people across all faiths, not just Christians, are victims of armed groups’ violence. “The characterization of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality,” said Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, a Muslim from southern Nigeria who is married to a Christian pastor.
About 238 million people live in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation. Around 46 percent of the population is Muslim, largely residing in the north, and about 46 percent are Christian, mostly located in the south, according to the Association of Religion Data Archives.
For more than a decade, Boko Haram and other armed groups have clashed in the northeast, forcing millions of people from their homes. Since Tinubu took power two years ago, pledging stronger security, more than 10,000 people have been killed there, according to Amnesty International.
In the centre, there are increasing attacks on predominantly Christian farming communities by herders from the rival Fulani pastoral ethnic group, which is predominantly Muslim. The attacks there are mostly over access to water and pasture.
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