behind the curtain of Trump’s strange threat; Will America attack Nigeria? – Mehr news agency RCO News Agency

According to the Mehr news agency, Al-Arabi Al-Jadid analytical website wrote in a report referring to the shock of US President Donald Trump’s threats against Nigeria that, like any issue that Trump suddenly involves himself in, questions have been raised about America’s motives regarding possible military action against Nigeria.

Pointing out that the plan to attack Nigeria was fueled by members of Congress and evangelical groups close to Trump, this report adds that despite Abuja’s efforts to respond to Trump’s claims and even the Nigerian President Bola Tinubu’s request to meet with his American counterpart, Trump continued to escalate the tension and even called for preparations for military action in Nigeria.

Trump and the hasty priority of Nigeria

Reacting to Trump’s sudden threat against Nigeria, a US military official told Reuters news agency that some members of the US military predicted that Trump might take action after US Senator Ted Cruz spoke about Christians in Nigeria last September and October. Cruz said at the time that Nigerian authorities had authorized the genocide of Christians, which has included tens of thousands of murders over the past 15 years.

Victoria Coates, a former Trump administration official who now works at the Heritage Foundation, told Reuters that as a major oil producer, Nigeria must provide security to ensure oil companies can operate there safely.

However, CNN reported Monday night, citing two sources, that Trump was on his way to Florida last Friday when he saw a report from Fox News, his favorite network, about the targeting of Christians in Nigeria and immediately became outraged and demanded more information about the matter. According to CNN, after Trump’s message in the cyberspace that referred to military action in Nigeria, the members of the American military command in Africa “Africom” were suddenly summoned..

Bulama Bokarti, a Nigerian human rights defender and security and development expert, while expressing doubts about Trump’s statements, told CNN that Trump’s statements reflect a dangerous simplification of the complex security crisis in Nigeria. He added: The claim of the mass killing of Christians by Islamic extremists distorts the reality on the scene and carries the risk of deepening the differences in a country that is already under a lot of pressure.

Trump’s attempt to lead Christianity in the world

Al-Jazeera writes in this regard that after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a right-wing activist who supports the Trump administration in recent weeks, he has increased his efforts to transform from a populist leader in the United States to the leader of the Christian right-wing trend in the whole world..

For this purpose, in his first speech in his second term of office at the United Nations General Assembly, he symbolically and unofficially assumed the leadership of the Western Christian right, and in his speech he created a special focus on what he called oppression and oppression against Christianity and blamed the United Nations for “not playing a role in protecting freedom of opinion”, especially against Christianity in the world..

Trump called on world leaders to work to “protect Christianity.” Trump also campaigned last year on a promise to fight what he called “anti-Christian bigotry,” and this year he formed a committee to that end and issued executive orders aimed at protecting religious freedom..

At the same time, Hudson, an expert on international issues, in a conversation with Al Jazeera, called Trump’s actions in this field a show, and at the same time said that it is not unlikely that the White House will carry out limited attacks to prove its point of view and seriousness and attract domestic public opinion.

Trump’s action in distorting the facts of Nigeria

organization “ Armed Conflict Location & Event DataAs a crisis monitoring group, on the available statistics on the killing of Christians in Nigeria, issued a report stating that between January 2020 and last September, more than 20,400 civilians were killed in attacks in Nigeria. Of these victims, 317 were attributed to attacks targeting Christians, while 417 were reported to attacks targeting Muslims.

Nnamdi Obasi, a security analyst and senior adviser at the International Crisis Group Research Center, explained to CNN that anti-Christian and anti-Muslim extremist groups have created chaos in northeastern Nigeria and terrorized Muslim-majority communities in the northwest. In addition, Christian-majority farming communities in parts of the North Central region suffer from ongoing violence by armed groups.

He emphasized that, however, in most parts of Nigeria, Christians and Muslims live in peace with each other. Reports of widespread persecution and mass killing of Christians are misunderstood and overstate the challenges of interfaith relations in the country.

Even Ken Iluma Asogwa, the spokesperson of the opposition Labor Party, told CNN It said that although the Nigerian government is lax in its approach to protecting its citizens, there is no evidence to support Trump’s claims that Christians have been specifically targeted for extermination.

The population of Nigeria is more than 232 million people and has about 250 ethnic groups, with the majority of Muslims living in the north and the majority of Christians living in the south. Adherents of both religions in Nigeria have been victims of massacres carried out by groups such as Boko Haram and the West African branch of ISIS. In central Nigeria, predominantly Muslim herders and Christian farmers often clash over access to water and pasture. In the northwest, militants routinely attack villages and kidnap residents for ransom.