The Federal Government has entered discussions with the United States following President Donald Trump’s recent threats of military action over the killing of Christians by jihadist groups in Nigeria.
Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf Tuggar confirmed the engagement in an interview with AFP, explaining that both countries are exploring ways to collaborate on shared security concerns.
According to Tuggar, the talks are focused on “how we can collaborate to tackle security challenges that are in the interest of the entire planet.” He dismissed the likelihood of a US military strike, saying, “No, I do not think so… the discussion has progressed. It’s moved on from that.”
Trump had earlier stated that he instructed the Pentagon to prepare a potential attack plan, accusing radical Islamists of killing Christians “in very large numbers.” He warned that if Nigeria fails to stop the violence, any US military response would be “fast, vicious, and sweet.”
Nigeria, home to over 200 million people, is split between a predominantly Muslim north and a largely Christian south. The country has battled violent armed groups for more than 15 years, especially in the northeast and northwest.
Claims widely circulated abroad — including a recent assertion on US television that Boko Haram has killed over 100,000 Christians and burned 18,000 churches — have been strongly disputed by Nigerian authorities. Officials maintain that terrorists target people of all faiths, insisting the narrative of a Christian genocide is misleading.
Security experts also argue that many of the conflicts portrayed as religious are driven instead by land disputes, resource scarcity, climate-related pressures, and governance failures.
The government continues to push back against foreign interpretations of the crisis, insisting that the situation, while grave, is more complex than portrayed.
