{"id":56138,"date":"2025-11-02T13:31:05","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T13:31:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/nigeria-s-tinubu-pushes-back-against-claims-of-christian-persecution-amid-trump\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T13:31:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T13:31:22","slug":"nigeria-s-tinubu-pushes-back-against-claims-of-christian-persecution-amid-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/nigeria-s-tinubu-pushes-back-against-claims-of-christian-persecution-amid-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria\u2019s Tinubu pushes back against claims of Christian persecution amid Trump threats"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a statement released on Saturday, Tinubu stressed that Nigeria \u201cstands firmly as a democracy governed by constitutional guarantees of religious liberty.\u201d He said his administration has maintained active engagement with both Christian and Muslim leaders since 2023 and continues to address security challenges affecting citizens across all faiths.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe characterisation of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality,\u201d Tinubu said, noting the government\u2019s consistent efforts to safeguard freedom of religion and belief. \u201cNigeria opposes religious persecution and does not encourage it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement follows Trump\u2019s social media posts accusing Nigeria of allowing the \u201cmass slaughter\u201d of Christians by Islamic terrorists. Trump said he had instructed the U.S. Department of War to \u201cprepare for possible action\u201d and warned that military intervention could follow if Nigeria does not act. He also announced that U.S. aid to the country would be immediately halted unless protections were strengthened.<\/p>\n

Nigeria\u2019s officials, however, rejected the allegations as exaggerated. Tinubu\u2019s press secretary described the claims as \u201ca gross exaggeration,\u201d noting that attacks in Nigeria affect both Christians and Muslims and are often linked to communal tensions, resource disputes, and extremist activity.<\/p>\n

Kimiebi Ebienfa, spokesperson for Nigeria\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the government is committed to protecting all citizens, regardless of faith, and celebrated the country\u2019s diversity as a national strength.<\/p>\n

\"Nigerian<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has dismissed claims that his government is failing to protect Christians, responding to threats from U.S. President Donald Trump over alleged religious persecution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000097123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[192],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-56138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-wycliffe-nyamasege"],"bylines":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"contributors":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"featured_image":{"id":2000097123,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/mixcollage-02-nov-2025-12-26-pm-2743.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/mixcollage-02-nov-2025-12-26-pm-2743.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/mixcollage-02-nov-2025-12-26-pm-2743.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/mixcollage-02-nov-2025-12-26-pm-2743.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/mixcollage-02-nov-2025-12-26-pm-2743.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/mixcollage-02-nov-2025-12-26-pm-2743.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000097123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56138"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=56138"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=56138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}