Nuhu Ribadu, national security adviser (NSA), with service chiefs
Nuhu Ribadu, the national security adviser (NSA), on Monday convened an emergency meeting with service chiefs and heads of security and intelligence agencies at the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) in Abuja.
Though the agenda of the meeting was not known at the time of this report, TheCable understands that it was convened to coordinate a unified national security response and review intelligence assessments regarding the potential consequences of the US president’s statement.
BACKGROUND
On October 31, Trump redesignated Nigeria as a ‘country of particular concern’ in response to allegations of a Christian genocide in the country.
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“Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed,” Trump said.
Subsequently, the US president asked the United States department of war to prepare for “possible action” to wipe out Islamic terrorists in Nigeria.
In a Truth Social post, he warned the Nigerian government to act fast to end the “killing of Christians” in the country.
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Hours after that, Trump said he is not ruling out air strikes or boots on the ground in furtherance of his plan to “completely wipe out the Islamic terrorists killing Christians in Nigeria”.
Pete Hegseth, US secretary of war, said his department is preparing for possible military action if the Nigerian government fails to end the “killing of innocent Christians” in the country.
A handful of right-wing US lawmakers, led by Ted Cruz, the senator from Texas, have repeatedly claimed that Christians are facing persecution in Nigeria.
In October, Cruz proposed the ‘Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act of 2025’, legislation that seeks to hold Nigerian government officials accountable for “facilitating the mass murder of Christians”.
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The proposed bill also calls for “targeted sanctions against Nigerian officials who enforce Sharia and blasphemy laws”.
Cruz introduced the bill in early September, just weeks before Trump signed a memo labelling views leaning towards anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity as domestic terrorism.
