US President Donald Trump has ordered the military to prepare for action in Nigeria to tackle Islamist militant groups, accusing the government of failing to protect Christians.Trump did not say which killings he was referring to, but claims of a genocide against Nigeria’s Christians have been circulating in recent weeks and months in some right-wing US circles.Groups monitoring violence say there is no evidence to suggest that Christians are being killed more than Muslims in Nigeria, which is roughly evenly divided between followers of the two religions.An advisor to Nigeria’s president said both leaders had a shared interest in fighting “all forms of terrorism against humanity”.Daniel Bwala said any differences about whether only Christians were being targeted “or in fact all faiths and no faiths” would be addressed when Trump meets his Nigerian counterpart, Bola Tinubu, in the coming days.Tinubu has insisted there is religious tolerance in the country and said the security challenges were affecting people “across faiths and regions”.Trump wrote in a social media post on Saturday that he had instructed the US Department of War to prepare for “possible action”.He warned that he might send the military into Nigeria “guns-a-blazing” unless the Nigerian government intervened, and said that all aid to what he called “the now disgraced country” would be cut.Trump added: “If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians!”Secretary of State for War Pete Hegseth replied to the post by writing: “Yes sir.”The Department of War is preparing for action. Either the Nigerian Government protects Christians, or we will kill the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.”Trump earlier announced that he had declared Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern” because of the “existent …
