President Donald Trump issued a direct warning to the Nigerian government on Friday, October 31, 2025, stating that the U.S. will “immediately stop all aid and assistance” if the country does not take action to stop the killing of Christians. In a post on Truth Social, Trump declared he is designating Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) for severe violations of religious freedom.
This designation, which Nigeria previously held in 2020 but was removed from by the Biden administration, is one step short of potential sanctions.
In the aggressive statement, Trump said radical Islamists are committing “mass slaughter” and that Christianity is “facing an existential threat” in the West African nation. He announced that he was asking officials to “immediately look into this matter, and report back to me.”
While the user’s provided text mentions a specific instruction to the “Department of War” (the new name for the Department of Defense) and a threat to go in “guns-a-blazing,” these exact quotes are not present in the widely reported statements from the President. Trump did, however, state: “We stand ready, willing, and able to save our Great Christian population around the World!”
President Trump’s warning follows months of lobbying from Republican lawmakers, including Senator Ted Cruz, who have cited figures claiming thousands of Christians have been killed by extremist groups like Boko Haram and Fulani militias.
The Nigerian government has pushed back against the designation. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu stated on Saturday that the characterization “does not reflect the national reality” and that Nigeria’s population is nearly evenly split between Muslims and Christians. Analysts and Nigerian officials have repeatedly argued that while Christians are indeed targeted, the majority of victims of armed groups are Muslims in the country’s northern regions.
