Donald Trump’s administration has followed through on their appeal to free the Christians in Nigeria from persecution. Through a social media post, the president informed the world that he had just carried out a “powerful and deadly strike” on the ISIS aligned terrorists in the northwestern region of Sokoto in Nigeria.
Trump has been facing immense pressure for his decisions as the commander in chief of the US. The scrutiny first started when he decided to involve the Army in the Middle East conflict between Iran and Israel that centered around Iran propping up their atomic bomb programme. That one issue has been a mainstay in the international media for decades — Trump chose to blow up their military installations to end it once and for all.
Of course, that in itself did present subsequent controversies of its own. With reporters questioning how effective the US Army operation was or even if that would just make the conflict between Iran and Israel build up into a full blown war. Somehow, however, a peace deal was begrudgingly made between the two countries, and Trump has been demanding for peace awards ever since.
Ultimately, however, this also turned into a situation where President Trump was being accused of ending wars that he started himself. All these mini controversies, coupled with the constant protests about Palestine, made the opportunity of Trump helping Christians seem impassable.
Still, that’s not to downplay the severity of the situation in Nigeria; their government was more than willing to accept help in dealing with the terrorist situation that has been building up for the last couple of years. Per CNN, Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar revealed he had spoken to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio prior to the strike. Tuggar said, “This is not about religion. It is about Nigerians, innocent civilians, and the wider region as a whole.”
The region in Nigeria has become a breeding ground for terrorist extremists who train and plan their attacks globally from the relative comfort of the lightly policed area of that region. Tuggar shared with the press that he’s more concerned about stopping those terrorist factions from growing rather than any politics attached. Tuggar added with finality, “Whoever is prepared to work with us to fight terrorism, we’re ready, willing and able. We demonstrated this yesterday.”
The situation in Nigeria has since grown into how the MAGA faithful respond to claims about complicity in the recently concluded war in Gaza. It’s the one ideology that they can all agree on; that yes, Christians are also being persecuted and that nobody is speaking up for it. It’s actually gained traction, with Nicki Minaj sharing her support for the Trump administration’s efforts in stopping the persecution. Somehow, the multi-platinum selling rapper was able to also tie that into pushing anti-trans agendas.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also confirmed that the strike should be looked at as just the beginning of the campaign. In a post on social media, Secretary Hegseth thanked the Nigerian government for cooperation and promised “more to come” without giving further context.
Published: Dec 26, 2025 03:11 pm