Overseas Minister Yusuf Tuggar says Nigeria’s structure protects in opposition to non secular persecution after declare by US President Donald Trump.
The Nigerian authorities has dismissed claims made by US President Donald Trump concerning the persecution of Christians within the West African nation, insisting that non secular freedom is totally protected beneath the nation’s structure.
Responding to a reporter’s query at a information convention in Berlin on Tuesday, Nigerian Overseas Minister Yusuf Tuggar held up a doc whose cowl learn “Nigeria’s Constitutional Dedication to Non secular Freedom and Rule of Regulation”.
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“All of the solutions are in there. That is what guides us,” Tuggar mentioned, talking alongside Germany’s Overseas Minister Johann Wadephul. “It’s unattainable for there to be non secular persecution that may be supported in any means, form or type by the federal government of Nigeria at any stage.”
Tuggar’s feedback come after Trump wrote on social media on Saturday that if the Nigerian authorities “continues to permit the killing of Christians”, the US would cease all help to the nation. Trump added that he had instructed the so-called Division of Battle “to arrange for doable motion”.
And on Sunday, Trump doubled down, saying Washington may deploy troops or conduct air strikes. “They’re killing a report variety of Christians in Nigeria,” he mentioned. “We aren’t gonna permit that to occur.”
The threats got here after the US president had redesignated Nigeria as a Nation of Specific Concern – a label the US authorities provides to international locations seen as chargeable for extreme violations of spiritual freedom.
Trump’s assertions echo claims which have gained traction amongst right-wing and Christian evangelical circles prior to now months. US Senator Ted Cruz, a Trump ally, blamed Nigerian officials for what he known as “Christian massacres” and launched in September the Nigeria Non secular Freedom Accountability Act of 2025, which, he mentioned, goals to carry officers who “facilitate Islamic Jihadist violence and the imposition of blasphemy legal guidelines” accountable.
Whereas admitting an issue with safety points, Nigerian officers rebuked Trump’s claims, saying that folks throughout all faiths, not simply Christians, are victims of armed teams’ violence. “The characterization of Nigeria as religiously illiberal doesn’t mirror our nationwide actuality,” mentioned Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, a Muslim from southern Nigeria who’s married to a Christian pastor.
About 238 million folks dwell in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation. Round 46 % of the inhabitants is Muslim, largely residing within the north, and about 46 % are Christian, largely positioned within the south, in response to the Association of Religion Data Archives.
For greater than a decade, Boko Haram and different armed teams have clashed within the northeast, forcing hundreds of thousands of individuals from their houses. Since Tinubu took energy two years in the past, pledging stronger safety, greater than 10,000 folks have been killed there, according to Amnesty Worldwide.
Within the centre, there are rising assaults on predominantly Christian farming communities by herders from the rival Fulani pastoral ethnic group, which is predominantly Muslim. The assaults there are largely over entry to water and pasture.
