Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Yusuf Tuggar, has strongly warned former U.S. President Donald Trump against making “false claims of religious persecution” in Nigeria, cautioning that such statements could trigger a crisis similar to what happened in Sudan.
Speaking in Berlin, Germany, on Tuesday, November 4, Minister Tuggar emphasized that “careless remarks from influential global figures risk inflaming divisions across Africa.”
Drawing parallels with Sudan’s tragic experience, he pointed out how sectarian and ethnic manipulation once tore the nation apart, plunging the region into crisis and years of instability.
“We’ve seen what has happened with Sudan, with agitations for the partitioning of Sudan based on religion, based on tribal sentiments And you can see the crisis,” Tuggar said.
Minister Tuggar stressed that Nigeria remains a constitutional democracy committed to peace, unity, and religious freedom, directly contradicting claims suggesting state-backed persecution of Christians.
Responding to a journalist who asked about Trump’s “menacing remarks and allegations,” Tuggar held up a document outlining Nigeria’s legal and constitutional commitment to religious freedom.
“What we’ve done is we’ve articulated what our Constitution says about religious freedom, what our federal laws say about religious freedom, and Nigeria’s constitutional commitment to religious freedom and rule of law,” the minister stated.
He further explained that Nigeria’s legal system makes it impossible for any level of government—federal, regional, or local—to endorse faith-based persecution. “All the answers are in there… this is what shows that it’s impossible for there to be a religious persecution that can be supported in any way, shape, or form by the government of Nigeria at any level,” he asserted.
Tuggar reminded the international community of Nigeria’s democratic credentials and significance: “Nigeria has a population of 230 million souls. It’s the largest democracy on the African continent. It’s the largest country on the continent.”
He concluded by underscoring Nigeria’s crucial role in promoting regional peace, noting that countries like Nigeria are left to resolve such problems and that the nation is a member of the African Union’s Peace and Security Council.
The Minister’s remarks follow a sharp increase in pressure from President Donald Trump, who recently accused Nigeria of failing to protect Christian communities from Islamist militant violence. In an explosive warning, Trump suggested the U.S. could deploy troops or carry out air strikes if Nigeria did not act.
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 assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.”
He later reiterated the threat of possible military operations during a press interaction, saying, “Could be. I mean, other things. I envisage a lot of things. They’re killing the Christians and killing them in very large numbers. We’re not going to allow that to happen.”
These statements followed Nigeria’s re-designation on the U.S. list of “Countries of Particular Concern” for religious-freedom violations.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian government has firmly rejected both the claim of a “Christian genocide” and the prospect of unilateral U.S. military intervention, insisting the violence affects people of all faiths and asserting that any foreign cooperation must respect national sovereignty.
