Nigeria urges meeting with Trump after US president’s military action threat

Nigeria on Sunday suggested a meeting between its president and US counterpart Donald Trump, after the US leader threatened military action over what he described as a threat to Nigerian Christians by jihadists.

In an explosive post, Trump said on social media on Saturday that he asked the Pentagon to map out a possible plan of attack in Nigeria, one day after warning that Christianity was “facing an existential threat” in Africa’s most populous country.

Nigeria, which is almost evenly divided between a Muslim-majority north and a largely Christian south, is embroiled in numerous conflicts that experts say have killed both Christians and Muslims without distinction.

In his post, Trump said that if Nigeria does not stem the killings, the United States will attack and “it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians”.

Daniel Bwala, spokesman for Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, told Agence France-Presse on Sunday that “Nigeria is the US’ partner in the global fight against terrorism. When leaders meet there would be better outcomes”.

“Nigeria welcomes US support to fight terrorism as long as it respects our territorial integrity,” Bwala said.

“We do not see the [Trump’s social media post] in the literal sense.