Nigeria does not tolerate any religious persecution, Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar assured Tuesday, in response to the military intervention planned by US President Donald Trump to defend Christians in this West African country.
Nigeria, divided roughly equally between a predominantly Muslim north and a predominantly Christian south, is beset by multiple conflicts which, according to experts, have caused casualties among both Christians and Muslims.
“We are guided by what our Constitution says in terms of religious freedom,” underlined Yusuf Tuggar, during a press briefing during a trip to Berlin for cooperation with Germany.
A country at war since 2023
“And this shows that no religious persecution can be supported in any way by federal, regional or local authorities, it is impossible,” continued Yusuf Tuggar, brandishing the constitution with one hand.
According to him, in Sudan, the incitement to partition the country on a religious or tribal basis has not resolved anything since “we are looking today at how to resolve the crisis not only in Sudan, in the north of Sudan, but also in the south.”
Amputated from South Sudan in 2011, Sudan has been torn apart since 2023 by a deadly war which has generated a humanitarian tragedy. The power conflict between the army and the paramilitaries threatens to provoke a new partition of the country.
“Violence linked to terrorism makes no distinction of gender, religion, ethnic origin or age,” the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said in a statement on Tuesday.
The threat of American intervention
Last weekend, Donald Trump threatened armed intervention in Nigeria, citing persecution of Christians.
Asked to clarify by an AFP journalist, the American president only indicated on Sunday that he was “considering many things” and adding: “They are killing Christians and they are killing them in very large numbers. We’re not going to let that happen.”
Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu then suggested a future meeting.
“No Christian is persecuted in Nigeria,” Nigerian Chief of Staff Olufemi Oluyede told the press on Monday. “Terrorism is a global problem” and “if some countries are ready to support Nigeria, we are ready to welcome them to help us,” he added, on the sidelines of a meeting with the National Security Advisor (NSA).
Sunday on
Jihadists, “bandits”, separatist groups…
An oil country, Nigeria faces several security challenges. In the northeast of the country, the Boko Haram jihadist insurgency, active since 2009, has killed more than 40,000 people and forced more than two million people to flee their homes, according to United Nations figures.
In the northwest and center of Nigeria, criminal gangs, called “bandits” by the population, are spreading terror, attacking villages, kidnapping residents and burning down houses after looting them.
Bloody clashes between predominantly Christian farmers and Muslim Fulani herders have also bloodied Plateau State and other states in the Nigerian “Middle Belt”.
Although the conflict appears to revolve around ethnic and religious issues, its root causes lie in poor land management and lack of authority in rural areas, experts say. Separatist groups have also resided in the southeast of the country for years.