Trump designates Nigeria a ‘country of particular concern’ over Christian killings

President Donald Trump has designated Nigeria as a “country of particular concern,” accusing the West African nation of allowing what he described as the “mass slaughter” of Christians.

The declaration, made Friday on Truth Social, marks one of the Trump administration’s strongest condemnations yet of religious persecution in Africa.

“Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria,” Trump said in his post. “Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter. I am hereby making Nigeria a ‘COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN’ — But that is the least of it.”

Trump added that he has directed Representative Riley Moore of West Virginia and Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma and members of the House Appropriations Committee to investigate the situation and report their findings to him.

“The United States cannot stand by while such atrocities are happening in Nigeria, and numerous other Countries,” he said. “We stand ready, willing, and able to save our Great Christian population around the World!”

Trump’s remarks come amid growing international alarm over attacks on Christian communities across northern and central Nigeria.

Rights groups report that entire villages have been burned, churches destroyed, and worshippers killed during Sunday services.

According to Open Doors International, nearly 70% of all Christians killed for their faith globally last year were Nigerians, a statistic underscoring the scale of violence.

However, the Nigerian government has repeatedly denied claims of a targeted Christian genocide. Officials in Abuja maintain that the violence stems from farmer-herder clashes and criminal banditry, not religious motives.

They insist that both Muslims and Christians have suffered casualties and accuse Western organizations of misrepresenting the conflict for political reasons.

Nigeria’s Ministry of Information recently dismissed reports of mass Christian killings as “false and misleading,” calling them part of a broader attempt to undermine national stability.

Yet Trump’s latest remarks, combined with Washington’s designation, could reignite diplomatic tensions between the U.S. and Africa’s most populous nation especially as Abuja struggles to convince the world it is still in control of its worsening security situation.