Nigeria: Welcomes American help

TT

Updated 16.12 | Published 15.49

 

The spokesman for Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu says the country welcomes American help to fight Islamist extremists. Archive photo. Photo: Sarah Meyssonnier/Pool Via AP/TT

Nigeria welcomes American help to fight Islamist extremists in the country, the president's spokesman told the Reuters news agency.

A meeting may also be in the works between the presidents of the two countries.

The statement comes after US President Donald Trump threatened to deploy the military against "Islamist terrorists" in Nigeria. He is demanding that the country stop what he claims is an ongoing mass killing of Christians. Trump has also written on Truth Social that all aid to Nigeria is being stopped.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu met Trump on Saturday and stressed that the country “opposes religious persecution”.

“Religious freedom and tolerance have been a central part of our collective identity and will always remain so”, the president wrote on social media.

While the president’s spokesman Daniel Bwala now says that help is welcome, he emphasizes that Nigeria’s territorial integrity must be respected. He also suggests that a meeting between the leaders could take place very soon, even in the coming days.

Bwala tells the AFP news agency that they are not taking Trump’s statement “literally”.

“We know that Donald Trump has his own way of communicating,” he says.

The northern parts of Africa’s most populous state are dominated by Muslims, while most Christians live in the south. In recent years, the Islamist extremist movement Boko Haram has terrorized the population in the north, with mainly Muslim victims, according to analyses.