ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has hit back after his U.S. counterpart called the West African country a “country of particular concern” for its alleged failure to curb persecution of Christians.
In a statement on social media on Saturday, Tinubu said characterization of Nigeria as a religiously intolerant country does not reflect the national reality.
“Religious freedom and tolerance have been the core tenets of our collective identity and will always remain so,” Tinubu said. “Nigeria opposes and does not encourage religious persecution. Nigeria is a country with constitutional guarantees to protect citizens of all faiths.”
Donald Trump said in a social media post on Friday that “Christianity faces an existential threat in Nigeria” and “radical Islamists are responsible for this massacre.”
Trump's comments came weeks after US Senator Ted Cruz called on Congress to designate Africa's most populous country as a religious freedom violator with allegations of “mass Christian murders”.
Nigeria's population of 220 million is almost equally divided between Christians and Muslims. The country has long faced insecurity on various fronts, including the extremist group Boko Haram, which seeks to assert its radical interpretation of Islamic law and also attacks Muslims it deems insufficiently Muslim.
Attacks in Nigeria have different motives. There are religiously motivated attacks targeting both Christians and Muslims, clashes between farmers and herders over resource depletion, inter-communal rivalries, separatist groups and ethnic clashes.
Although Christians are among the victims, analysts say most of the armed groups' victims are Muslims in northern Nigeria, where most attacks occur.
Kimyebi Ebienfa, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reiterated Nigeria's commitment to protecting citizens of all religions.
“The Federal Government of Nigeria will continue to protect all citizens, regardless of race, creed or religion,” Ebienfa said in a statement on Saturday. “Like America, Nigeria has no choice but to celebrate diversity, which is our greatest strength.”
Nigeria was placed on the US list of countries of particular concern for the first time in 2020 due to what the State Department called “systematic violations of religious freedom.” That designation, which did not single out attacks on Christians, was scrapped in 2023, which observers saw as a way to improve relations between the countries ahead of a visit by then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
