Nigeria Clarifies What Really Happened With Trump’s Airstrikes

The Nigerian government took the time to debunk President Trump’s claims of Christian genocide in Nigeria after he announced the bombing of Africa’s most populous (and most oil-rich) nation.

“The United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!” Trump announced on Truth Social Christmas night. “I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was.”

The issue with right-wing claims of Christian genocide in Nigeria is that terror groups and militias are killing everyone, Christians and Muslims alike. The Nigerian government, which says it provided intelligence to the Trump administration before the strikes, clarified what they were really about.

“Nigeria reiterates that all counter-terrorism efforts are guided by the primacy of protecting civilian lives, safeguarding national unity, and upholding the rights and dignity of all citizens, irrespective of faith or ethnicity,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote in a statement. “Terrorist violence in any form whether directed at Christians, Muslims, or other communities remains an affront to Nigeria’s values and to international peace and security.”

Nigeria has spent months attempting to clarify this point, as the right has spent months attempting to justify violent U.S. intervention to protect Christians—with Trump threatening to enter Nigeria “gun-a- blazing” just last month.

“This is not a Christian genocide, because the facts don’t support it,” Good Governance Nigeria researcher Malik Samuel said in November. “If you look at the areas where this conflict is rife, even in the—even if you take Borno state alone, you look at northern Borno, many of these communities are Muslim-dominated. So most of the victims of Boko Haram violence are Muslims.”

Trump is running with this much like he ran with the absurd claims of white genocide in South Africa—and both Christian and Muslims in Nigeria will suffer the consequences.