Trump says violence in Nigeria targets Christians. Here’s what we know
By Nimi Princewill, Jessie Yeung, CNN
(CNN) — After months of warning that the US could take military action to stop violence against Christians in Nigeria, President Donald Trump announced on Christmas Day that he had done just that – delivering a strike on Islamic State terrorists in the country’s northwest.
Nigeria’s foreign ministry confirmed that the two countries had coordinated on the strike, and one presidential adviser said the US and Nigeria were “on the same page in the fight against terrorism.”
Details are still emerging about the strike, which came after Trump threatened to suspend aid to Nigeria over violence against Christians, even calling on his secretary of defense to “prepare for possible action” against Africa’s most populous nation in November.
But the reality on the ground is more nuanced than Trump’s characterization suggests, experts and analysts have told CNN this year. Both Christians and Muslims – the two main religious groups in the country of more than 230 million people – have been victims of attacks by radical Islamists, they say.
Here’s what you need to know.
Years of violence
Nigeria has grappled for years with deep-rooted security problems driven by various factors, including religiously motivated attacks.
The country has roughly equal numbers of Christians – predominantly in the south – and Muslims, who are mainly concentrated in the north.
In 2012, the Islamist group Boko Haram issued an ultimatum, ordering Christians in the northern region to leave while calling on Muslims in the south to “come back” to the north. Most targeted killings in recent years have been in the north.
Security analysts said Lakurawa, a lesser-known group prominent in northwestern states, could have been the target of Thursday’s strikes. Lakurawa has become increasingly deadly this year, often targeting remote communities and security forces, and hiding in the forests between states, the news agency Reuters reported.
Observers say other violent conflicts arise from communal and ethnic tensions, as well as disputes between farmers and herders over limited access to land and water.
The US strike could “disrupt ISIS operations in the short term, but the long-term issues that surround violence in Nigeria are extremely complex,” said CNN military analyst and retired US Air Force Col. Cedric Leighton, pointing to the economic factors at play.
“The way most of these strikes work is that they need to be part of a larger campaign, and what we’re not seeing here is that larger campaign.”
Has the long-running violence killed Christians?
Yes – though that’s only part of the picture.
John Joseph Hayab, a pastor who leads the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the country’s northern region, agrees with Trump’s claim of “systematic killings of Christians” in that area.
The scale of the killings has reduced in the last two years, he said. However, this year has seen a spate of high-profile attacks in predominantly Christian pockets of the north, which has drawn international attention and condemnation.
In April, gunmen believed to be Muslim herders killed at least 40 people in a mostly Christian farming village. Two months later, more than 100 people were massacred in Yelwata, a largely Christian community in the southeastern state of Benue, according to Amnesty International.
The killings have been seized upon among parts of the Christian evangelical right in the US. In August, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas introduced a bill calling for sanctions against Nigeria for purported violations of religious freedom.
What about Muslim victims?
Muslims have also been victims of targeted attacks by Islamist groups seeking to impose their extreme interpretation of Islamic law.
At least 50 worshippers were killed in August when gunmen attacked a mosque in the northwestern state of Katsina, and many similarly brutal attacks have been carried out in Muslim communities by Boko Haram and other armed groups in the north.
“Yes, these (extremist) groups have sadly killed many Christians. However, they have also massacred tens of thousands of Muslims,” said Bulama Bukarti, a Nigerian human rights advocate specializing in security and development.
He added that attacks in public spaces disproportionately harm Muslims, as these radical groups operate in predominantly Muslim states.
What little data exists also does not support Trump’s claims that Christians are being disproportionately targeted.
Out of more than 20,400 civilians killed in attacks between January 2020 and September 2025, 317 deaths were from attacks targeting Christians while 417 were from attacks targeting Muslims, according to crisis monitoring group Armed Conflict Location & Event Data.
The organization did not include the religious affiliation of the vast majority of the civilians killed.
What have authorities said?
In November, Trump designated Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern” under the US International Religious Freedom Act – which suggests his administration has found that Nigeria has engaged in or tolerated “systematic, ongoing, (and) egregious violations of religious freedom.”
But the Nigerian government rejected claims that it was not doing enough to protect Christians from violence. At the time, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu said that “the characterization of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality.”
However, several experts and analysts told CNN they believed the government needed to better protect all citizens – as people are being impacted by mass killings regardless of their religion or background.
Tinubu has not yet publicly commented on Thursday’s strike, but earlier in the day, had shared a Christmas message on social media.
“I stand committed to doing everything within my power to enshrine religious freedom in Nigeria and to protect Christians, Muslims, and all Nigerians from violence,” he wrote.
The-CNN-Wire
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