The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has dismissed claims by former U.S. President Donald Trump that Christians are being killed in Nigeria under the administration of President Bola Tinubu, describing the allegation as “politics taken too far.”
Gatekeepers News reports that speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday, Wike said the accusation amounted to an indictment of a government he serves in.
“It is an indictment that a government I am serving, anybody will allege that that government is supporting genocide, killing of Christians, and I am still in that government.
This is politics taken too far,” he said.
The minister questioned the logic behind the claim, pointing out that several top security officials in Tinubu’s government are Christians.
“The Inspector General of Police is a Christian, the Director-General of the Department of State Services is a Christian, the Chief of Defence Staff is a Christian.
Tell me how any right-thinking person will think that we will sit in a government and support the killing of our own people?” he queried.
Wike stressed that the loss of lives anywhere in Nigeria brings no joy to any responsible leader, regardless of religion or region.
His comments follow Trump’s explosive post on his Truth Social platform on Saturday, in which the former U.S. president claimed that Christianity faced an “existential threat” in Nigeria.
Trump said he had directed the Pentagon to prepare a possible “plan of attack” against Nigeria if the government failed to stop the killings of Christians, adding that such an operation would be “fast, vicious, and sweet.”
The ex-president repeated the threat on Sunday after Nigeria’s presidency proposed a diplomatic meeting to address his concerns. Asked by journalists whether U.S. intervention could include ground troops or air strikes, Trump responded, “Could be — I envisage a lot of things.”
“They’re killing the Christians and killing them in very large numbers. We’re not going to allow that to happen,” Trump added.
When asked whether he was worried about Trump’s threat of a U.S. military operation in Nigeria, Wike declined to give a categorical response, but suggested that the former president may have acted on “misinformation or distortion.”
“It’s unfortunate,” he added.
