The Nigerian government on Tuesday said it does not tolerate religious persecution, responding to US president Donald Trump鈥檚 threats of military intervention over the killing of Christians by jihadists in the country.
Trump said on social media that he had asked the Pentagon to map out a possible plan of attack in Africa鈥檚 most populous nation because radical Islamists are 鈥榢illing the Christians and killing them in very large numbers鈥�.
But foreign minister Yusuf Tuggar insisted that the country鈥檚 constitution did not allow religious persecution, in the first comment by a senior Nigerian government official following Trump鈥檚 weekend threats.
鈥業t鈥檚 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,鈥� Tuggar told a press conference in Berlin.
Nigeria has a 鈥榗onstitutional commitment to religious freedom and rule of law鈥�, the foreign minister added.
Roughly evenly split between a mostly Christian south and Muslim-majority north, Nigeria is home to myriad conflicts, which experts say kill both Christians and Muslims, often without distinction.
But claims of Christian 鈥榩ersecution鈥� in Nigeria have found traction online among the US and European right in recent months.
Flanked by his German counterpart Johann Wadephul, Tuggar warned against any attempts to divide Nigeria along religious lines, drawing parallels with civil war-ravaged Sudan.
鈥榃hat we are trying to make the world understand is that we should not create another Sudan,鈥� he said.
鈥榃e鈥檝e 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 even when the partitioning was done according to religion or according to tribe,鈥� Tuggar said.
Trump has not suggested any division of Nigeria along religious lines, but said without evidence that 鈥榯housands of Christians are being killed (and) Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter鈥�.
Ikemesit Effiong, an analyst with the Lagos-based SBM Intelligence consultancy, suggests that Nigeria鈥檚 fears of partitioning are informed by history, with several major former British colonies having experienced 聽鈥檝iolent partitions and secessions鈥�.
鈥楴igeria is actually sensitive to the fact that while our diversity can be a strength, it can also be a lever of division, of violence and eventually of partition,鈥� he said.
Nigeria has denied that Christians have been targeted by jihadist attacks more than people from other faiths.
Before Trump鈥檚 threat, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu had said that religious tolerance was 鈥榓 core tenet of our collective identity鈥�.
Claims of a 鈥楥hristian genocide鈥� have been pushed in recent years by separatist groups in the southeast.
US-based firm Moran Global Strategies has been lobbying on behalf of separatists this year, advising congressional staff on what it said was Christian 鈥榩ersecution鈥�, according to lobbying disclosures.
The word 鈥榞enocide鈥� has also been used by some individuals in the central parts of the country who are frustrated by the escalating violence there, though typically in ethnic, not religious terms.
Nigeria also faces a long-running jihadist conflict in its northeast and 鈥榖andit鈥� gangs in the northwest who stage kidnappings, village raids and killings.
The north鈥檚 population is mostly Muslim 鈥� meaning most of the victims are, too.
Nigeria鈥檚 newly appointed chief of defence staff, Lieutenant General Olufemi Oluyede, told reporters聽on Monday that 鈥榯here are no Christians being persecuted in Nigeria鈥�.
Other analysts suggest that Washington鈥檚 amped-up rhetoric could be related to Abuja rejecting demands to accept non-Nigerian deportees expelled from the United States as part of Trump鈥檚 immigration crackdown.
