Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Yusuf Tuggar, has delivered a strong caution to United States President Donald Trump, warning him not to create another Sudan through false allegations of religious persecution in the West African nation.
Speaking at a press conference in Berlin, Germany, on Tuesday, November 4, Minister Tuggar emphasized that careless remarks from influential global figures risk inflaming divisions across Africa. Drawing parallels with Sudan’s tragic experience, he pointed out how sectarian and ethnic manipulation once tore the nation apart, plunging the region into crisis and years of instability.
We have seen what happened with Sudan, with agitations for the partitioning of Sudan based on religion, based on tribal sentiments, and you can see the crisis, Tuggar said. He stressed that Nigeria remains a constitutional democracy committed to peace, unity, and religious freedom, contrary to claims suggesting state backed persecution of Christians.
Responding to a journalist who asked about Trump’s menacing remarks and allegations, Tuggar held up a document outlining Nigeria’s legal and constitutional commitment to religious freedom. What we have done is we have articulated what our Constitution says about religious freedom, what our federal laws say about religious freedom, and Nigeria’s constitutional commitment to religious freedom and rule of law, the minister stated.
He further explained that Nigeria’s legal system makes it impossible for any level of government, whether federal, regional, or local, to endorse faith based persecution. All the answers are in there. This is what shows that it is impossible for there to be a religious persecution that can be supported in any way, shape, or form by the government of Nigeria at any level, he asserted.
Tuggar reminded the international community of Nigeria’s democratic credentials and significance. Nigeria has a population of 230 million souls. It is the largest democracy on the African continent. It is the largest country on the continent, he said.
He concluded by underscoring Nigeria’s crucial role in promoting regional peace, noting that countries like Nigeria are left to resolve such problems and that the nation is a member of the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council.
The minister’s remarks follow a sharp escalation in pressure from President Trump. On Saturday, Trump threatened to stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria and said he had ordered the Pentagon to begin planning for potential military action in the country.
In a social media post, Trump wrote: If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the United States of America 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 also posted that Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter. Trump on Friday said radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter and made Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern under the International Religious Freedom Act.
Trump became focused on the issue after watching a Fox News segment on Friday about Christians allegedly being targeted by Islamic groups in Nigeria, according to two sources familiar with the matter who spoke to Cable News Network (CNN). He was immediately angered by it and asked to get further read in on the issue, one source said.
When asked about potential US military action, Trump said last Sunday: Could be. I mean, other things. I envisage a lot of things. They are killing the Christians and killing them in very large numbers. We are not going to allow that to happen.
Trump’s comments came weeks after United States Senator Ted Cruz urged Congress to designate Africa’s most populous country as a violator of religious freedom with claims of Christian mass murder.
Nigeria’s population of 220 million is split almost equally between Christians and Muslims. The country has long faced insecurity from various fronts including the Boko Haram extremist group, which seeks to establish its radical interpretation of Islamic law and has also targeted Muslims it deems not Muslim enough.
Attacks in Nigeria have varying motives. There are religiously motivated ones targeting both Christians and Muslims, clashes between farmers and herders over dwindling resources, communal rivalries, secessionist groups and ethnic clashes.
Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu released a statement stressing that his government continues to address security challenges which affect citizens across faiths and regions. The characterization of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality, nor does it take into consideration the consistent and sincere efforts of the government to safeguard freedom of religion and beliefs for all Nigerians, Tinubu said on Saturday.
Religious freedom and tolerance have been a core tenet of our collective identity and shall always remain so. Nigeria opposes religious persecution and does not encourage it. Nigeria is a country with constitutional guarantees to protect citizens of all faiths, he added.
Tinubu, a Muslim from southern Nigeria who is married to a Christian pastor, has sought to strike a balance in key government and military appointments to ensure that Muslims and Christians are represented equally.
Daniel Bwala, spokesperson for President Tinubu, suggested Trump’s threat might be a negotiating tactic to force a sit down between the two leaders so they can iron out a common front to fight insecurity. He suggested the post was a way to force a meeting between Trump and Tinubu to resolve the issue, adding that differences would be discussed and resolved by the two leaders when they meet in the coming days, either in State House or White House.
Ikemesit Effiong, an analyst with the Lagos based Strategic Business Management (SBM) Intelligence consultancy, suggested that Nigeria’s fears of partition are informed by history, with several former British colonies having experienced violent partitions and secessions. Nigeria is actually sensitive to the fact that while our diversity can be a strength, it can also be a lever of division, of violence and eventually of partition, he told Agence France Presse (AFP).
Ebenezer Obadare, a senior fellow for Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, said Nigeria needs assistance, especially military assistance. The wrong thing to do is to invade Nigeria and override the authorities or the authority of the Nigerian government. Doing that will be counterproductive, he noted.
Trump’s threat of military action came a day after his administration added Nigeria back to a Countries of Particular Concern list of nations that Washington says have violated religious freedoms. Other nations on the list include China, Myanmar, North Korea, Russia and Pakistan.
