OMNIA's work in Nigeria goes back 8 years. In that time, we've learned a great deal about the country, and made deep friendships. Nigerian Interfaith Peacemaker (IP) Teams have been a model for all our other countries. So, when the President of the United States threatens violence against our sisters and brothers in Nigeria, it is important that we speak up.

President Trump wrote on social media: ‘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.' 

Yes, there is violence and killings going on in some parts of Nigeria. This is terrible and we vigorously denounce it. We hold the Nigerian government accountable for not acting quickly and decisively to stop the violence or bringing the perpetrators to justice. But the situation is more complicated than the "killing of Christians."

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‍Nigeria's complex context: Boko Haram and other militias

‍For decades now, Northeastern Nigeria where most of our IP Teams are located, faced terrible violence from brutal terrorist groups such as Boko Haram, Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) and other militias. Our theory is that this violence is the consequence of an age-old animosity between Muslims and Christians. If we could close that gap by bringing them into trusting relationships, we reasoned, Boko Haram would not be able to recruit, and thereby couldn't operate. Our theory was proven right. Muslim and Christian religious and civic leaders and people of faith have come together to form 140 IP Teams in Gombe State, and there has been a marked drop in violence. In 2003, Gombe became the second safest state in Nigeria, and in 2024, it became the state with the least number of kidnappings. Recognizing the role of the IP Teams the Governor gave us an award.

And yes, Boko Haram and ISWAP targeted Christians. But not only Christians, they targeted anyone including Muslims who didn't believe in their brand of extremism. They were all "infidels" in their mind, and could be killed. Young recruits were told that this how they can assure a place in the "hereafter."

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‍Second complexity: the Fulani herders:

‍The migration of herders southwards in search of pasture due to the expanding desert is the second problem. These young men from the Fulani tribe are Muslims. As they move south, they run into crop farmers, most of whom are Christians. The herds do not belong to these young men, but to rich herd-owners who live in the big cities. They are the ones who supply the young herders with guns and other weapons and incite them to kill humans in order to feed the cows. So, these maurading herders massacre the crop farmer families often in the night while they are asleep. If you don't know the context, you could easily assume that Muslims are killing Christians. But most of the time, that's not the case. Herders who happen to be Muslims are killing crop farmers who happen to be Christians who are protecting their farmland from the invading herders.

And in case you are tempted to think that this is how it is with all Fulani people, you should know this story. In the village of Lapan, in Gombe State, Fulani familes felt marginalized by the non-Fulani villagers, and considered leaving the village. When the IP Team came to know this, they built relationships with those families and worked to integrate them into the community. When I was there about two years ago, two Fulani leaders came to our meeting. They came to specifically express their gratitude for what the IP Team had done.

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‍What is Trump's Motivation?

‍Religious persecution, including Christian persecution is a real and serious problem. I've seen its terrible consequences in many parts of the world. But it has also been weaponized by many Evangelical groups for political advantage. As an aside, Trump's support among White Evangelicals is waning. Let's be clear: Trump does not care about religious or Christian persecution, but he does care about his electoral base. Here are three instances that prove the case.

1. The Trump Administration drastically reduced refugee admissions to the US from 125,000 per year to 7500, reserving most of those slots for White South Africans. Among those who've been refused entry are Christians from many countries who have faced persecution.

2. Gaza is primarily Muslim. So using the same logic as Nigeria's economic struggle is a persecution of Christians, we can say, Israel's genocide in Gaza is a persecution of Muslims. To be consistent to US values of religious liberty, Mr. Trump must find this as reprehensible. But he supports Israel's genocide of Gaza. Many Christians also were killed and churches destroyed in Gaza. So,by the same logic, Gaza's Christians are also being persecuted. Gaza, in addition, has ancient and historic Christian roots; this is where the apostle Philip evangelized the Ethiopean eunuch (Acts 8:26). Although Mr. Trump says in Nigeria Christianity is threatened, it is, in fact, in Gaza that Christianity is most threatened.

3. The Trump administration is rounding up brown people who look Latin American in many US cities. They hold them in crowded detention centers with little food or medicines, without access to lawyers and deporting them to third countries without due process. Ninety-two percent of them are Christians. Most are Catholics and a significant minority are Pentecostals. When Catholic bishops, priests and nuns, after following all the protocol sought permission to take them Holy Communion, the most sacred of Catholic rituals to the detainees on All Saints Day, they were refused admission. Using the same logic, the deprivation of due process and religious services to Christian immigrants is also Christian persecution.

‍Is there another reason?

It's hard to tell. What we do know is that Nigeria is an oil and mineral-rich nation. It has the second largest oil reserves in Africa. Venezuela is another oil-rich nation. And Mr. Trump is ready to go to war with Venezuela. Also, during the past 10 months of Trump's second term, how many times have we heard the term rare-earth minerals? It seems as if he going after countries that have such underground resources. Remember Greenland? We don't know the answers to those questions, yet. What we do know is that Christian persecution is not the reason he wants to go after Nigeria. He's looking for an excuse to go to war.

Let's be vigilent, and hold our Nigerian sisters and brothers in prayer. Please let me know what you think. I can be reached at shanta@omnialeadership.org