Trump Takes Action: U.S. Troops on Standby To Save Christians in Nigeria – American Center for Law and Justice

By 
Logan Sekulow
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President Trump announced that he has ordered Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to prepare for military action in Nigeria, which sees more Christians killed for their faith than any other country. The President took to Truth Social with the promise that the United States stands “ready, willing, and able to save our Great Christian population around the World!”
As reported by The New York Times:
President Trump on Saturday threatened Nigeria with potential military action and said the United States might cut off aid, accusing the West African country’s government of failing to protect Christians.
Mr. Trump said in a post on social media that he was instructing the Pentagon “to prepare for possible action” to wipe out “Islamic Terrorists” in the country. “If we attack,” he wrote, “it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians!”
Later on Saturday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth responded to the president’s post with: “Yes sir.” The Pentagon, he said, was “preparing for action.”
“The killing of innocent Christians in Nigeria — and anywhere — must end immediately,” he said, adding, “Either the Nigerian Government protects Christians, or we will kill the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.”
Christians in Nigeria are being targeted for extinction, and the ACLJ has been sounding the alarm for years, without much response from previous leaders. Now President Trump is threatening to use bold measures to protect these innocent Christians before it’s too late against Boko Haram – the Nigerian arm of ISIS – and other radical Islamist terrorists.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has denied that Christian persecution is occurring in Nigeria in mass numbers. But it only takes a quick Google search to find the deadly violence against Christians is widespread. We’ve been reporting on it at every turn, and we’ve taken direct action at the United Nations to demand intervention. Meanwhile, Nigeria’s own leaders brazenly claim it isn’t happening. So why are Nigerian Christians begging for protection? 
As we’ve told you before, when ACLJ Senior Counsel for Global Affairs Mike Pompeo was the U.S. Secretary of State, he declared Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) and placed it on a special watchlist for the deadly persecution of Christians. Unfortunately, when President Biden took office, he inexplicably had Secretary of State Antony Blinken remove Nigeria from that official list. We are thankful that on Friday,  President Trump rightfully restored the CPC designation over the violent African nation.
According to reports, over 52,000 innocent Christians have been slaughtered by radical Islamic terrorists since Boko Haram reared its ugly head in the region in 2009. What part of that statistic made Biden think for a second to remove them from a persecution watchlist? Even some typically more Left-leaning celebrities like Bill Maher and hip-hop artist Nicki Minaj recently expressed outrage at the bloodshed. Minaj even thanked President Trump on social media – a move that in this highly charged media environment could have a detrimental effect on her career. Despite the denials of the seemingly apathetic Nigerian government, the world is clearly waking up to the Christian genocide.
My brother, ACLJ Executive Director Jordan Sekulow, joined us live on the broadcast to discuss the White House’s bold announcement. And lest anyone ask, “What good does a watchlist do to save Christians?” Jordan broke down the significance of this designation and what it will mean for Nigeria and anyone attempting to do business with the nation going forward:
Two things come with being on a Country of Particular Concern list that are important. One, companies that do business there also now have an interest in making sure you get your act together. Because let’s say you are one of those big oil and gas companies with corporate operations and activities in Nigeria. The worst thing that could happen to you as a company is for Nigerian oil or gas to be sanctioned.
That means that it cannot be sold to the U.S. or purchased by U.S.-based businesses. A CPC designation allows the President to take just one step to institute that kind of restriction on their ability to impact trade, but that doesn’t just affect Nigeria. That then means that big oil and gas companies based in America that do work in Nigeria now also need to go to the Nigerian government and say, Get this under control, or else we will no longer be able to do business with you, and we’ll have to stop our operations in Nigeria. So it puts not just the world on notice but everyone who does business in the U.S. . . . You’re a step away – if you don’t get your act together – from being cut off from the world’s economy.
We were also joined by the man who originally made that CPC decision, Secretary Pompeo, who broke down how dire the situation is in Nigeria and why the CPC designation is critical to combat this violence:
Yes, this has taken far too long. You’ll recall that when I was Secretary of State, I designated, with the President’s approval, Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern. That’s kind of a fancy term for violating a legal requirement to protect adherence to the Christian faith, whatever country or whatever place you may be. The International Religious Freedom Act requires that, and when the Secretary of State determines that the country is not upholding that standard, it designates them as a country of particular concern.
What does it mean? It means that now the full weight of the U.S., in many diplomatic ways and many economic ways, can now be brought to bear to convince the Nigerian government to do the basic thing that we asked them: to be tolerant of religious freedom inside of their own country and to protect those persons in Nigeria, mostly in the North who are Christian, who are simply trying to live their lives and practice their faith and who are being murdered by their fellow Nigerians.
This is certainly welcome news, but it’s still far from cause for celebration. Scores of innocent Christians have been slaughtered by radical Islamists.
Today’s Sekulow broadcast included more analysis of President Trump’s warning to Nigeria, and what will likely happen next, as well as more with Jordan, who has just returned from Washington, D.C., where he participated in an ACLJ-sponsored event alongside  the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) to end Christian persecution.
Watch the full broadcast below:

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