Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, has cautioned former U.S. President Donald Trump against spreading “false claims of religious persecution” in Nigeria, warning that such remarks could fuel divisions and trigger a crisis similar to Sudan’s.
Speaking in Berlin, Germany, on Tuesday, November 4, Tuggar said “careless statements from influential figures” could inflame tensions across Africa, stressing that Nigeria remains a constitutional democracy committed to peace, unity, and religious freedom.
“We’ve seen what happened in Sudan — agitations for partitioning along religious and tribal lines that led to crisis and instability,” Tuggar said.
The minister directly refuted Trump’s allegations of state-backed persecution of Christians, describing them as “baseless and dangerous.” Responding to a journalist’s question about Trump’s “menacing remarks,” Tuggar presented a document outlining Nigeria’s constitutional and legal guarantees of religious freedom.
“What we’ve done is articulate what our Constitution and federal laws say about religious freedom and rule of law,” he stated. “This shows that it is impossible for any level of government — federal, regional, or local — to support or endorse religious persecution in Nigeria.”
Reaffirming Nigeria’s democratic credentials, Tuggar noted: “Nigeria has a population of 230 million. It’s the largest democracy and the largest country on the African continent.” He added that Nigeria continues to play a vital role in regional peace efforts as a member of the African Union’s Peace and Security Council.
Tuggar’s warning comes amid escalating rhetoric from Trump, who recently accused Nigeria of failing to protect Christian communities from Islamist violence. The former U.S. leader claimed that Washington might halt aid or even launch military operations if the Nigerian government “continues to allow the killing of Christians.”
In a social media post, Trump wrote:
“If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and may go into that disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic terrorists committing these horrible atrocities.”
He later reiterated the possibility of U.S. intervention, saying, “Could be. They’re killing Christians in very large numbers — we’re not going to allow that to happen.”
Trump’s comments came shortly after the U.S. re-listed Nigeria among “Countries of Particular Concern” for alleged violations of religious freedom.
However, the Nigerian government has strongly rejected the claims of a “Christian genocide” and the notion of any U.S. military involvement, maintaining that the violence affects people of all faiths and that all foreign cooperation must respect Nigeria’s sovereignty.