US President Donald Trump has directed the US Department of War to plan for “possible action” to eliminate Islamic terrorists in Nigeria.

In a Truth Social post on Saturday, Trump urged Nigeria’s leadership to act quickly to cease the “killing of Christians” in the country.

The president of the United States also stated that he will immediately suspend all aid and assistance to Nigeria.

“If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria and may very well go into that now disgraced country, “guns-a-blazing,” to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities. I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians! WARNING: THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT BETTER MOVE FAST!” Trump said.

This comes only one day after Trump labelled Nigeria as a ‘country of special concern’ in response to reports of Christian genocide in the country.

He accused extreme Islamists of the “mass slaughter” of Christians in Nigeria.

President Bola Tinubu responded to the situation by rejecting Trump’s decision to label Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” due to alleged religious persecution, stating that Nigeria remained a democracy based on constitutional protections of religious and believe freedom.

The President stated that the characterization of Nigeria as being religiously intolerant does not reflect reality, as the country’s population of 220 million is split almost equally between Christians and Muslims.

‘Religious freedom and tolerance have been a core tenet of our collective identity and shall always remain so,’ he wrote. 

‘Nigeria opposes religious persecution and does not encourage it. Nigeria is a country with constitutional guarantees to protect citizens of all faiths.’