Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar has said Nigeria’s constitution protects against religious persecution, following US President Donald Trump’s claim.
The Nigerian government has dismissed US President Donald Trump’s claims of persecution of Christians in the West African nation, insisting religious freedom is fully protected under the country’s constitution.
Nigeria’s Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar responds to a question from a journalist at a press conference in Berlin on Tuesday organized A document whose cover reads “Nigeria’s Constitutional Commitment to Religious Freedom and the Rule of Law”.
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“All the answers are there. That’s what guides us,” Tugger said, speaking alongside German Foreign Minister Johann Wadeful. “It is impossible for religious persecution to be supported by the Nigerian government at any level, shape or form.”
Tuggar’s comments came after Trump wrote on social media on Saturday that the US would stop all aid to the Nigerian government if it “continues to allow the killing of Christians”. Trump added that he had instructed the so-called War Department to “be prepared for possible action.”
And on Sunday, Trump doubled down on whether Washington could deploy troops or launch airstrikes. “They are killing record numbers of Christians in Nigeria,” he said. “We will not allow that to happen.”
The threats came after the US president re-designated Nigeria as a country of particular concern – a label given by the US government to countries responsible for serious violations of religious freedom.
Trump’s statements echo claims that have gained traction in right-wing and Christian evangelical circles in recent months. US Senator Ted Cruz, a Trump ally, Blamed the Nigerian authorities What he called a “Christian massacre” and in September introduced the Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act of 2025, which aims to hold accountable “authorities who facilitate the imposition of Islamic jihadist violence and blasphemy laws”.
While acknowledging the problem with security issues, Nigerian authorities Trump’s claims were rebukedNot only Christians but people of all religions are victims of violence by armed groups. “The characterization of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality,” said Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, a Muslim from southern Nigeria who is married to a Christian pastor.
About 238 million people live in Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa. About 46 percent of the population is Muslim, mainly living in the north, and about 46 percent is Christian, mostly in the south. Association of Religion Data Archives.
For more than a decade, Boko Haram and other armed groups have been fighting in the northeast, forcing millions of people from their homes. Since Tinubu took power two years ago promising tighter security, more than 10,000 people have been killed there, Accordingly Amnesty International.
In the center, predominantly Christian farming communities have been increasingly attacked by herdsmen from the predominantly Muslim Fulani pastoral ethnic group. Attacks there are mainly for access to water and pasture.