By Enyichukwu Enemanna
A US congressman, Riley Moore, has stated that President Donald Trump is focused on ending the slaughtering of Christians in Nigeria, noting that the recent bombardment of terrorist targets was meant to prevent the killing of adherents of a dominant faith in the West African nation.
“We did this in coordination with the Nigerian government, which is very important to point out. This isn’t the United States unilaterally doing this, we are doing this in coordination with the Nigerian government to help secure their country and end the slaughter of Christians in Nigeria,” Moore, a member of the United States House of Representatives said in a post on X.
The US on Christmas Day, launched air strikes against two terrorist enclaves in Bauni forest in Tangaza Local Government Area of Sokoto State, North West Nigeria.
According to Moore, Christians in Nigeria were attacked by terrorists on Christmas Day in the last two years. He said Trump gave the terrorists a taste of their own medicine by launching attacks against them.
Attaching a clip of his interview on Fox News, the US lawmaker said the air strikes, which were launched in collaboration with the Nigerian government, were meant to “end the slaughter of Christians in Nigeria.”
“So, quite a bit different, the President is totally focused on this. He made that very clear in this attack and and this is a very good first step to addressing this issue,” he said.
“Obviously, President Trump has finally stood up to this and I do want to point out something very important: the last two Christmases, there has been a massacre of Christians in Nigeria.
“The tables have absolutely turned this year. The Islamic terrorists in Nigeria were the ones receiving that type of present this year,” he stated.
The US lawmaker stated that those against the air strikes are “playing to their Islamic radical base that they now have to appease for whatever reason.”
However, Nigerian government has denied allegation that Christians are being targeted in “religious” killings, instead says Muslims have also been affected in attacks by armed groups.
Nigerian authorities claimed to have offered intelligence in the Sokoto bombardment that led to the killing of several terrorists which Trump described as “successful”.
