Demonstrators say Trump’s threat undermines Nigeria’s independence and distorts the country’s security realities.

By Abdullahi Yusuf

Residents of Kano State, mostly members of an Islamic movement, took to the streets on Saturday to protest remarks made by U.S. President, Donald Trump, who recently alleged that Christians in Nigeria were facing genocide and hinted at possible American military involvement.

The demonstrators carried placards with inscriptions including “We condemn Trump’s threat to attack Nigeria,” and “America wants to control our resources.”

Photos and clips from the rally were shared online by Hon. Nuhu Sada, the Social Democratic Party’s candidate for the Kaduna State House of Assembly representing Zaria Kewaye Constituency in the upcoming 2025 bye-election

On Nov. 1, Trump declared that he had ordered the Pentagon to develop options for possible military measures against terrorist groups in Nigeria to protect Christian communities there.

He said that if the Nigerian government “continues to allow the killing of Christians,” Washington would immediately cut all aid, adding that the US could “go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing.’”

Nigeria rejected the claims, saying there cannot be “religious persecution that can be supported in any way, shape, or form by the government of Nigeria.”

“At any level—be it federal, be it regional, be it local—it’s impossible,” said Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar.

In Nigeria, security is threatened by a mix of terrorist groups, including Boko Haram and ISWAP, as well as armed gangs, ethnic militias like the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), and herder-farmer conflicts often rooted in economic and social tensions.