Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar underscored his government’s commitment to religious freedom and the rule of law, pushing back against Donald Trump’s claim about the alleged killing of Christians in the West African nation.
Asked about the U.S. president’s comments at a news conference Tuesday with his German counterpart in Berlin, Tuggar produced a document that he said articulated what Nigeria’s constitution stipulates about religious freedom.
“This is what guides us and this is what shows it’s impossible for there to be a religious persecution that can be supported in any way, shape or form by the government of Nigeria at any level,” he said, standing alongside German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul.
Trump claimed at the weekend that Christians are being systematically killed in Nigeria “in very large numbers” and pledged the U.S. would intervene to protect them.
The false assertion has long been floated in right-wing circles in the West, and was brought up by Trump during his first term. It has gained traction in recent months, prompting rising concern in Africa’s most populous nation.
China’s government weighed in on the issue on Tuesday. Beijing opposes nations using religion or human rights “as an excuse to interfere in other countries’ internal affairs, and threatening other countries with sanctions and force,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a briefing.
On Sunday, President Bola Tinubu — who is Muslim and has a Christian pastor wife — said his government was committed to working with the U.S. and international community to protect all faiths.
He added that “the characterization of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality.”
Tuggar said what Nigeria is “trying to make the world understand is that we should not create another Sudan.”
He referred to what he called “agitation for the partitioning of Sudan based on religion, based on tribal sentiments” that plunged the North African nation into crisis.
“And who gets left behind to work toward resolving such problems? It’s us,” he added. “It’s African countries, it’s countries like Nigeria that is a member of the African Union Peace and Security Council.”
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—With assistance from Foster Wong.
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