By Mohammed Bello Doka, Abuja Network News
In what appears to be a modern-day crusade dressed as diplomacy, U.S. President Donald J. Trump has reignited global controversy with his fiery demand that Nigeria’s President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, must “protect Christians” — or face the wrath of America’s might.
President Trump’s declaration, delivered in his trademark thunderous style, has been interpreted by analysts as a veiled threat to Nigeria’s sovereignty and a disturbing sign of selective sympathy — where one faith is elevated, and the other quietly written out of history.
‘Guns-a-Blazing’ for Jesus
In a late-October outburst on his Truth Social platform, President Trump wrote:
“If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.”
A few days later, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, the President doubled down:
“They’re killing record numbers of Christians in Nigeria … They’re killing the Christians and killing them in very large numbers. We’re not going to allow that to happen.”
That’s Trump — direct, dramatic, and dangerously divisive.
To many Nigerians, his words sounded less like concern for humanity and more like moral warfare dressed in religious robes.
The Republican Choir of Righteous Anger
President Trump’s Republican base wasted no time turning his outrage into political ammunition.
Congressman Riley Moore (R-WV) sponsored a resolution “condemning the slaughter of Christians in Nigeria,” stating:
“Every day, innocent Christians in Nigeria are brutally attacked, displaced, and murdered simply for their faith in Jesus Christ.”
He continued:
“The United States must make it clear that we will not tolerate the slaughter of Christians or the persecution of anyone for their belief in Jesus Christ.”
Powerful words — yet notably selective. Neither President Trump nor Moore has uttered a single public sentence acknowledging the thousands of Muslims equally slaughtered, abducted, and displaced across Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto, and Borno.
The Silence that Screams
Human-rights data paint a very different picture from Washington’s moral melodrama.
According to the United Nations, Amnesty International, and Nigeria Security Tracker (CFR), both Muslims and Christians are victims of terrorism and banditry in Nigeria — with Muslims forming the majority of those killed by Boko Haram, ISWAP, and rural bandits in the North.
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, captured it perfectly:
“These criminals spare no one — they kill imams, pastors, traditional rulers, and ordinary citizens. They are enemies of all humanity.”
But such nuance rarely travels across the Atlantic. President Trump’s version of Nigeria is a one-dimensional battlefield where Christian saints are under siege by Muslim devils — a story that sells in America’s evangelical circles, especially among voters who see him as a defender of Christendom.
Nigeria Pushes Back
The Nigerian government swiftly dismissed Trump’s claims as a “gross distortion of reality.”
Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf Tuggar stated:
“There is no state-backed religious persecution in Nigeria. Our security challenges are complex and driven by terrorism, criminality, and resource competition — not by religion.”
Indeed, Nigeria’s war on terror has cost both Christian and Muslim lives, and soldiers of all faiths have died defending their communities. Yet the Western narrative seems deaf to Muslim suffering — as if acknowledging it might blur the black-and-white frame that fuels their political messaging.
Diplomacy or Holy War?
President Trump’s words — “guns-a-blazing” and “existential threat to Christianity” — are not mere rhetoric. They carry geopolitical undertones: moral diplomacy as a tool of influence, soft power repackaged as divine mission.
Critics argue that this “Christian protection crusade” is less about compassion and more about strategic positioning — a bid to reassert American dominance in Africa, counter Chinese and Russian footholds, and rebrand U.S. interventionism as holy duty.
To the discerning observer, it’s a faith-flavored foreign policy — one that weaponizes religion to mask empire’s ambition.
Selective Sympathy — The New Moral Violence
President Trump’s omission of Muslim victims may not be a spoken “go to hell,” but its effect is the same.
By recognizing one pain and erasing another, his message reduces millions of Muslim Nigerians to silence — collateral damage in a Western morality play.
This selective empathy isn’t moral leadership; it’s moral violence — the kind that wounds without words, that kills dignity by omission.
Final Word
If President Trump truly believes in justice, he must first believe in truth — and the truth is simple:
Both Muslims and Christians are being killed in Nigeria.
Both deserve protection, compassion, and peace.
Until then, Trump’s loud crusade for “Christian protection” will remain what it is —
a sermon of selective outrage echoing across oceans, loud enough for applause in Washington, but painfully hollow in Zamfara, Borno, and Plateau.