President Donald Trump of the United States said on Friday that Christianity faces a threat in Nigeria and he was adding the West African nation to a State Department watch list as a Country of Interest.
“Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
He said he was putting Nigeria on a “Countries of Particular Concern” list of nations the U.S. finds have engaged in religious freedom violations. The list includes China, Myanmar, North Korea, Russia and Pakistan among others, according to the State Department website.
Trump said he was asking U.S. Representatives Riley Moore and Tom Cole, as well as the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, to look into the matter and report back to him.
Christian genocide in Nigeria has been a subject of debate lately after a US congressman raise a alarm to alleged ongoing mass murder of persons of the Christian faith. But the Nigerian government swiftly and strongly denied it.
Nigerians who reacted to the latest Trump position said placing Nigeria in the same bracket with Myanmar, North Korea, Russia and Pakistan is bad for the image of the country which is already facing a global backlash of suspicion on account of alleged perpetration of cybercrimes and other acts of criminality by Nigerians.
