Why Trump ordered a strike on militants in Nigeria

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump in November threatened to take military action in Nigeria
unless its government halted what he described as the killing of “very large numbers” of Christians by jihadists.

He followed through weeks later, ordering a strike against ISIS targets
– an attack that was coordinated with the West African nation.   

Allegations of Christians being persecuted in Nigeria have floated around right-wing circles in the US for years. Mr Trump amplified such claims during his first term and escalated the rhetoric after returning to the White House in January.

A nation of about 230 million people that is roughly split between a Muslim north and Christian south, Nigeria does face formidable security challenges.

Militant groups have wreaked havoc across the north-east, bombing and raiding villages, towns and military bases, and killing thousands; criminal gangs have turned kidnapping for ransom into a thriving industry; herders and grain farmers have warred over access to land and water; and pirates have targeted vessels off the coast, disrupting shipping. 

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu denies any religious group is being singled out. His administration says it remains engaged with the US and other international partners to address the “persistent threat of terrorism and violent extremism”.

How effective was the US attack?

Mr Trump said he directed American forces to carry out “a powerful and deadly strike” against ISIS in north-western Nigeria, and the country’s Foreign Ministry confirmed there were “precision hits on terrorist targets”.

US Africa Command said multiple members of the group were killed, and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth threatened there would be “more to come” if ISIS continued pursuing “innocent Christians” in Nigeria and elsewhere.

It will take some time to assess what effect – if any – the strike will have on the militants’ operations. 

Why is Nigeria so unstable?

Nigeria suffers from severe inequality. While it is one of Africa’s biggest oil producers and is rich in minerals, extraction has mainly benefited a tiny political elite.

Competition for water, land and other resources, as well as the proliferation of armed criminal gangs, have driven much of the ethnic and political violence.  

Militant group Boko Haram – whose Hausa-language name means “Western education is a sin” – has been fighting to impose its version of Islamic law on Nigeria since 2009.

The group gained international notoriety in 2014, when it abducted at least 276 teenage girls from a dormitory in the predominantly Christian town of Chibok, but it has targeted civilians across the religious spectrum. 

In recent years, Boko Haram has largely been overshadowed by an offshoot known as Islamic State of West Africa Province, or Iswap, an ISIS affiliate that first emerged in 2016. Iswap has attacked dozens of fortified army bases in Nigeria over the course of 2025 using captured commercial drones and night-vision equipment. 

Though successive Nigerian governments have tried to counter the militants, their forces have been stretched thin by the myriad of security challenges that span a vast territory. 

What has Trump said about Nigeria?

At the end of October, Mr Trump announced he was designating Nigeria a “country of particular concern” – a categorisation the US applies to states it considers to have engaged in severe violations of religious freedom. 

Other nations that have been similarly labelled include China, Russia and Iran. Mr Trump previously placed Nigeria on this watch list during his first term, but the decision was reversed by the Biden administration.

In early November, Mr Trump threatened to immediately cut off all aid and instructing the US Defence Department to prepare for potential military action to “wipe out the Islamic Terrorists”.

“They’re killing the Christians and killing them in very large numbers,” he said. “We’re not going to allow that to happen.”

His decision to act is but one deviation from undertakings made during 2024’s election campaign to scale back US military forays abroad. 

The US also staged air strikes on more than 70 targets across Syria in December in response to a deadly attack on American forces there that the President blamed on the ISIS group. 

Mr Trump also ordered a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers
entering and leaving Venezuela and authorized strikes against alleged drug-trafficking boats as he mounts a pressure campaign against the nation’s socialist leader Nicolas Maduro. 

Does violence in Nigeria disproportionately target Christians?

While religion is one driver of insecurity in Nigeria, attacks are often intertwined with ethnic and resource-based tensions. Analysts attribute the bulk of the violence to criminality.

There were almost 12,000 attacks on civilians between January 2020 and September 2025, resulting in more than 20,000 deaths, according to data compiled by independent conflict monitor Acled. Only 5 per cent of these attacks, in which 317 Christians and 417 Muslims were killed, were classed as explicitly religiously motivated.

The primarily Muslim north has by far been the most impacted by the broad violence as bandits in the northwest and Islamists in the northeast claim thousands of lives each year.

Conflict has shaded into religion in central Nigeria, where predominantly Muslim nomadic herders have clashed with mainly Christian farmers – although access to land and water are at the root of most of those long-running clashes.

What financial implications could Trump’s actions have?

US aid flows to Nigeria have tailed off significantly since Mr Trump reentered office, and the loss of additional assistance would be another blow to the more than half of the country’s citizens who live below the poverty line.

It is unclear whether the US plans further cutbacks, given the Nigerian authorities’ backing for its strike. 

Mr Trump’s initial threat of military action caused Nigeria’s dollar bonds and its currency, the naira, to slump. There was no immediate response to the strike, which occurred when markets were closed for year-end public holidays. 

Any souring of investor sentiment would be a major setback for Mr Tinubu, who has taken difficult steps to reform the economy in a bid to revive growth and attract more foreign investment. These measures include removing a costly fuel subsidy and liberalising the currency market.

How has Nigeria’s government responded to Trump’s criticism?

Mr Tinubu, who is Muslim and married to a Christian pastor, posted on social media platform X that “the characterisation of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality”.

Nigeria’s Foreign Ministry said all counter-terrorism efforts were “guided by the primacy of protecting civilian lives, safeguarding national unity, and upholding the rights and dignity of all citizens, irrespective of faith or ethnicity”. 

“Terrorist violence in any form whether directed at Christians, Muslims, or other communities remains an affront to Nigeria’s values and to international peace and security,” it said in a statement following the strike. BLOOMBERG