<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>US 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.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The president also warned that he “will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“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.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“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!”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>BREAKING NEWS: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/british-police-say-multiple-people-were-stabbed-on-a-train-near-cambridge-and-2-individuals-arrested/0f8497e4-a984-4b4f-b94f-875fe955340d" rel="" target="_blank" title=""><strong><span>'Multiple' people stabbed on a UK train</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The 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 African nation “a country of particular concern” for allegedly failing to rein in the persecution of Christians.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In a social media statement on Saturday, Tinubu said that the characterisation of Nigeria as a religiously intolerant country does not reflect the national reality.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/donald-trump-news-usa-nigeria-military-action-christian-persecution/557d974a-6085-4369-b017-69743e11b9b2" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“Religious freedom and tolerance have been a core tenet of our collective identity and shall always remain so,” Tinubu said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“Nigeria opposes religious persecution and does not encourage it. Nigeria is a country with constitutional guarantees to protect citizens of all faiths.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump on Friday said “Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria” and “radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump's comment came weeks after US Senator Ted Cruz urged Congress to designate Africa’s most populous country as a violator of religious freedom with claims of “Christian mass murder.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Nigeria’s population of 220 million is split almost equally between Christians and Muslims.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The country has long faced insecurity from various fronts including the Boko Haram extremist group, which seeks to establish its radical interpretation of Islamic law and has also targeted Muslims it deems not Muslim enough.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/queensland-weather-supercell-storm-destructive-hail/6ded9dc6-7119-445d-8f30-0eca8c737514" rel="" target="_blank" title=""><strong><span>Nine injured after giant hailstones pummel school fair</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Attacks in Nigeria have varying motives; there are religiously motivated ones targeting both Christians and Muslims, clashes between farmers and herders over dwindling resources, communal rivalries, secessionist groups and ethnic clashes.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>While Christians are among those targeted, analysts say the majority of victims of armed groups are Muslims in Nigeria’s Muslim-majority north, where most attacks occur.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Kimiebi Ebienfa, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reiterated the commitment of Nigeria to protect citizens of all religions.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“The Federal Government of Nigeria will continue to defend all citizens, irrespective of race, creed, or religion," Ebienfa said in a statement on Saturday.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Like America, Nigeria has no option but to celebrate the diversity that is our greatest strength."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Nigeria was placed on the country of particular concern list by the U.S. for the first time in 2020 over what the State Department called “systematic violations of religious freedom.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The designation, which did not single out attacks on Christians, was lifted in 2023 in what observers saw as a way to improve ties between the countries ahead of then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f"><em><strong><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></strong></em></a><em><strong><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. 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