President Bola Tinubu has rejected Nigeria’s re-designation as a “Country of Particular Concern” by U.S. President Donald Trump, insisting that the label misrepresents Nigeria’s religious reality.
In a statement posted on his official X handle on Saturday, the President said Nigeria “stands firmly as a democracy governed by constitutional guarantees of religious liberty,” and that the description of the country as religiously intolerant “does not reflect our national reality.”
“The characterisation of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality, nor does it take into consideration the consistent and sincere efforts of the government to safeguard freedom of religion and beliefs for all Nigerians.
“Religious freedom and tolerance have been a core tenet of our collective identity and shall always remain so. Nigeria opposes religious persecution and does not encourage it,” Tinubu said.
The post was in response to Trump’s declaration of Nigeria as a County of Particular Concern.
President Tinubu said that since taking office in 2023, his administration had maintained “an open and active engagement with Christian and Muslim leaders alike and continues to address security challenges which affect citizens across faiths and regions.”
He reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to collaborate with the U.S. and international partners to foster understanding, saying, “Our administration is committed to working with the United States government and the international community to deepen understanding and cooperation on protection of communities of all faiths.”
Although Nigeria is constitutionally secular, religious tensions, particularly between Christian-majority and Muslim-majority regions, have fueled violence, including deadly clashes between farmers and herders, insurgent attacks in the North-East, and blasphemy-related mob killings.
Successive governments have denied that these conflicts are rooted in religious discrimination.