ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday said he’s ordered the Pentagon to begin planning for potential military action in Nigeria as he stepped up his allegations that the government is failing to rein in the persecution of Christians in the West African country.
The president also warned that he “will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria.”
“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,” Trump posted on social media. “I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians!”
Asked by reporters Sunday on Air Force One whether that could mean sending U.S. troops into the country, or striking Nigeria from the air, Trump was non-committal. “Could be,” he said. “They’re killing the Christians and killing them in very large numbers. We’re not going to allow that to happen.”
Trump’s warning came after Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu earlier on Saturday pushed back on Trump announcing a day earlier that he was designating the West African country “a country of particular concern” for allegedly failing to rein in the …